Mi Amigo
by Cosmic Monster
Summary: When Your best friend finally comes home after four long years, you kinda expect their undivided attention. So what can you possibly do when he introduces his blonde, busty, bitchy, girlfriend from hell? You terminate her.*Lemons,alcohol and rock n' roll*
1. You've got a friend in me

**Hey Guys!**

**This is my second fanfic and honestly my most favourite to write. I really hope you guys enjoy **

**Reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

**Anyways, I don't own Twilight in any shape or form; if I did I wouldn't be publishing this on **

**Fanfiction **

**Enjoy!**

_But none of them will ever love you  
>The way I do, it's me and you<br>Boy, and as the years go by  
>Our friendship will never die<br>You're gonna see it's our destiny  
>You've got a friend in me.<em>

**-You've got a friend in me, Randy Newman**

**BPOV**

"Is he nearly here?" I shrieked in excitement as I ran into the Cullen house.

"He's on his way! He should be in Forks by now, but, honey, you need to calm down you're acting like you're thirteen rather than twenty-three!" Esme replied, just as excited, as she finished tidying the living room.

I sighed.

Edward, my best friend, was coming home today.

It's been two years since I've seen him last. We missed each other dreadfully, but the separation was inevitable, and we both knew it. He went to study marketing and business up in Alaska and then opened his own advertising company, while I stayed in Forks, and instead, went to the local community college to study journalism. I'm now the editor of the '_Seattle times'. _It's not exactly the most exciting job, but it pays the bills...

Edward came home every Christmas, but that was it. Otherwise, Edward and I kept in contact through emails, phone calls, and sometimes-just for the fun of it- we would send each other goofy postcards.

He was finally finished for the summer, and was staying- taking turns staying with his parents and my apartment- for the three months.

I've missed him so much- and just the thought of seeing him in the flesh thrilled me.

Edward and I have been best friends since we were in diapers. Charlie-my dad- decided to bring me ice-skating in the local park at Christmas time, where we met Carlisle and Esme- who were knew in town at the time-with their son Edward. We played in the snow together for hours and were inseparable since.

Throughout high school, Edward was always there for me. I often got bullied by other girls in our grade, they were jealous of mine and Edwards friendship, and Edward didn't really date. He always stuck up for me when they called me nasty names, he would listen to me, hold my hand, stroke my hair and hum me to sleep when I was upset or stressed. He protected me from boys who wanted to take advantage of me, he brought me chocolate ice-cream when I got my first period-claiming that he knew exactly what he was talking about, since he was going to become a doctor someday ( well that's what he thought at the time, now he's the C.E.O of his own company.) He held me when my first boyfriend broke-up with me. He was like a brother to me, and I loved him for it.

We had tonnes in common, which is one of the many reasons we have stayed friends for so long. We're both big music fans. Edward's amazingly talented at piano and guitar. When we were in the fourth grade he taught me how to play, I've played ever since, sometimes singing. We both love good old classic rock, collecting as many band t-shirts as we can. But Edward and I are officially the biggest Kings of Leon fans there are! Edward gave me their album for my thirteenth birthday and we've been frenzied ever since.

Often, Edward would drive us into Port Angeles to go to the local library. We would spend hours sitting in the back corner reading each other quotes and enjoying the others company.

The sound of wheels crunching the gravel in the driveway pulled me from my thoughts.

That could only mean one thing.

"ESME! CARLISLE!" I screamed with enthusiasm as I ran out the front door, nearly tripping in my haste.

He was just getting out of his car when I saw him. From what I could see, he was taller, and more...muscular? His messy bronze hair was still perfectly dishevelled. He had form fitting jeans and a dark gray sweater with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows.

I barrelled to him as quickly as my feet would carry me and-when I was close enough- hopped onto his back, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist.

"You're home!" I squealed the obvious.

"Bella!" he cheered in surprise.

He brought his arms around his back and pulled me around to face him. Our faces were inches apart when I _really_ saw him.

His features were less boyish, more straight and angular. He had a strong jaw with slight stubble. His eyes were like emeralds, gazing back into mine with what could only be happiness. His perfect full lips were turned up into a dazzling smile.

He was beautiful.

Was he always this beautiful? Or did I just never notice? Or maybe the separation was going to my head, I wasn't thinking straight. I never thought of Edward as anything more than a brother. But looking at this angelic man in front of me now...I wasn't exactly having appropriate, sister worthy thoughts about him.

He grabbed my waist and pulled me into a tight hug. He buried his face in my hair and inhaled. His arms wrapped around me sent pleasant shivers down my spine-a reaction I never got before this moment. I couldn't help but sigh into his chest.

"I've missed you so fucking much Bella" he said quietly, "How have you been? How's your job?" he asked, still not releasing me.

"I've been okay, my jobs fine, well as fine as it can be-working for the local newspaper- my boss is an asshole. But I really missed you too" I admitted quietly.

He held me a bit tighter.

I felt something different between us. A good different. Better even. I never candidly realised how much I missed him until now.

"Well I'm here for the whole Summer, and we can do whatever you want" he said brightly.

"Sounds perfect! I have so much planned-" I smiled up at him.

However, our wonderfully, sentimental reunion was cut short by a nasally voice. I cringed at the sound.

"Eddie! Carry my bags inside, I want to-oh" she cut herself off "who's this?" she asked.

I reluctantly pulled away from Edwards comforting embrace and turned to face the woman.

She was gorgeous. I mean, model worthy, gorgeous. Tall, blonde, long legs, big boobs, curves in all the right places, and a face that would put angels to shame. My self esteem dropped by a hundred points just looking at her.

I turned toward her-curious as to who she was and, more importantly, why she was asking Edward to be her bell-boy.

"His name is _Edward_, he _hates_ when _anyone_ calls him Eddie" I said belligerently "Who are you?" I asked, trying to be as polite as possible.

"Oh Eddie! Didn't you tell her about me?" she asked him, ignoring my statement.

"Tell me what?" I asked, looking at Edward for an explanation.

He looked rather sheepish. He smiled at me slightly, with a hint of worry in his beautiful eyes, before walking over to me and placing a gentle hand on my shoulder.

"Bella, this is Tanya, my girlfriend."

Oh hell no.

**What's your favourite band? Just curious...**

**Anyway hope you guys liked it, Review if you'd like me to continue **

**Thanks for reading,**


	2. I know your girlfriend hates me

I know your girlfriend hates me 

I see it in her eyes 

The way she looks right on me 

It opens up in time 

I know your girlfriend hates me 

See you know it's true 

The way she hangs upon you 

And watches every move, come on 

Girl you think you're something 

But have I got news for you.

**-I know your girlfriend hates me-****Anne L. Berge Strand**

**BPOV**

I stared at him blankly. My brain was having a hard ass time processing this information.

_Girlfriend?_

No! Edward can't have a girlfriend! Edward has _never_ had a girlfriend! I was his first kiss for Christ's sake! No, no, no! Shit, this can't happening.

Why was I getting so upset over this? I don't own him, he's free to do whatever he wants. I can't tell him otherwise, what kind of friend would that make me? Anyway, why should I care? I should be happy for him.

But then why do I feel like my heart was just ripped from my chest?

Edward was looking at me cautiously, yet expectant.

"G-girlfriend?" I finally stuttered, looking at him again.

"Er...yeah, you see-'' he started.

"Eddie and I have been dating for five months now" the bitch in question cut him off "Didn't you know?" she asked in a smug voice.

"No, I didn't" I answered, looking at Edward with a look that clearly said _'We'll discuss this later'._ He caught my expression and nodded.

"Well it's nice to meet you. Eddie hasn't stopped talking about you!" she said with a fake smile "Too much actually" she muttered under her breath. Edward didn't seem to notice, but I sure did.

"Let's get inside, shall we?" he asked, clearly noticing the tension that gathered suddenly.

"Yeah, sounds good. I can't wait to hear everything about Alaska!" I said happily-momentarily forgetting the busty blond standing next to him.

"I can't wait to tell you everything! It's not the same through the phone," he said sadly

"Oh, Edward!" Esme cried in pure joy as she ran outside to greet him. She threw her arms around him and sobbed into his chest.

"I missed you mom" he said as he hugged her back.

"You have to promise that you'll come visit more often now that your business is up and running smoothly! You know you could always work in the Forks, and stay close to home-Oh! Jasper, Rose, Alice, and Emmett will be here shortly, they're so eager to see you! But of course, I _had_ to let Bella come early, heaven knows she talked about you every-''

Esme was cut off by an obnoxious throat clearing.

"Oh," Esme looked slightly taken aback by the interruption "Who's this?" she asked kindly, gesturing to Tanya.

"Mom, this is Tanya, my girlfriend." He said, putting an arm around her shoulder, while she beamed her stupidly perfect, white teeth at Esme.

I tried not to gag.

"Oh," Her expression was nonchalant "It's nice to meet you Tanya" she said, staying in her spot.

If you knew Esme like I did, then you could tell that she didn't like Tanya just by one little fact. She didn't hug her. When Esme likes someone, she hugs them. She always hugs me and our friends.

I mentally high-fived her.

"Tanya is going to be staying with us this summer, is that okay?" Edward asked

_What?_ The _whole_ summer? But, but...I had so many activities planned out for us to do together! Jamming sessions, movie nights, swimming, getting absolutely smashed down at the local bar... These plans didn't involve a certain plastic blond-who was currently groping Edwards' ass, right in front of his mother. Disrespectful much?

"Of course" Esme said, smiling a tight smile.

"Edward!" Carlisle exclaimed happily as he came running down the stairs and embraced him in a hug. I smiled at the sight.

Edward introduced Carlisle to _her, _andsuggested he take their bags upstairs- once he realised that Carlisle was having the same response to her as Esme.

As Edward picked up their suitcases, Esme gave me a pointed look before saying,

"Bella, dear, will you show Tanya to the guest room?"

_Fuck yes!_

"Of _course _Esme" I said gleefully, walking up the stairs.

"Here's your room Tanya" I said with a shit-eating grin, holding the door open.

She looked disappointed that she wasn't sharing a room with Edward, but said nothing otherwise. Edward set her bags down and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, telling her he'd be back in a few minutes, before heading for his room, while I followed him quietly.

Just as I closed the door behind me, he grabbed me by the arm and brought me towards the bed. I sat down obediently, while he sat next to me.

It was silent for a moment.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a girlfriend?" I finally asked, breaking the silence.

"I honestly didn't know that I'd be with her for so long," He said, tracing patterns up my arm with his fingertips "and then after three months I was going to tell you, but I couldn't find the words. Bella, you've been the only girl in my life for years now, and well, to be perfectly honest, I was fuckin' afraid of how you would react." He whispered the last part.

"Edward" I sighed, "You're my best friend, you can tell me anything" I smiled at him.

"I know, and I'm sorry I won't do that again" he promised with a small smile.

"Okay, so..." I trailed off, wondering how to ask the burning question that's been on the tip of my tongue all morning.

"So what?" he asked, playfully nudging my arm.

"Do you love her?" I blurted out.

"No" he said immediately "I mean, I like her, and she's a good girlfriend, but, no, I don't love her" he said thoughtfully.

I felt relief wash through me like a tidal wave.

"Oh! Here, I brought you something" He said quickly, leaping from the bed and rushing to his suitcase. He opened it quickly and pulled out a package. He sat back on the bed quickly and gave it to me.

"I saw it in this cool vintage store and thought of you," he said, smirking.

"Edward, if you bought me anything sexually inappropriate I will slap you" I warned.

"Come on Bells open it!" He said with the cutest pout and puppy-dog eyes.

"Fine" I sighed and ripped open the package. Inside there was a grey t-shirt with _'The Clash' _written in white and a small picture of the band.

"Edward, thank you so much!" I said as I jumped on him-pushing him down onto the bed-and squeezed him tightly.

"I love it!"

"I knew you would" he replied, lifting me from his chest.

I looked into his eyes and I think I melted. They shined bright with happiness, something else was there too, but I couldn't put my finger on it. He gazed back into my eyes with a now curious expression. His eyes dropped to my lips-which were barely inches apart- and back to my eyes again. My breathing became slightly laboured as I leaned in slightly-

I was startled and jumped when the bedroom door slammed open to reveal a seething Tanya.

"Eddie! What the hell are you doing?" She screamed with a burning rage.

"Calm down Blondie," I said steadily, as she glared at me, "I was giving him a hug after he gave me my present."

I untangled myself from him fully and sat Indian-style on the bed.

"What present, bitch?" she growled quietly.

"This awesome t-shirt" I told her, ignoring the bitch comment and holding it up "He knows I love the clash" I smiled at her.

"Well isn't that just lovely!" she said sarcastically

"Tanya, calm down. Now." Edward said in annoyance, speaking for the first time. "Bella is my best friend who I haven't seen in years. I don't know what your qualms are with her, but I would appreciate it if you showed her a bit more respect." He said with finality.

Suddenly the Edward standing before me was seventeen again, defending me from the bitchy girls who picked on me...

_7 years ago..._

"_You're such a slut! I heard you give Edward blow jobs every day after school as payment, so he will pretend to be your friend, you're so pathetic!"Lauren, one of my peers snarled at me, as her and her wannabies ganged up on me at the back of the school. _

_I was supposed to be meeting Edward here so we could go back to his house to do homework, but by the way things are going now, he'll probably be taking me to the E.R instead..._

"_I bet you're not even that good! You're so naive! Go ask Newton if he wants to be your fuck buddy instead, because tomorrow, you and Edward better not be together or I'll-"_

"_You'll what Lauren?" the beautiful voice of my saviour snarled._

"_Oh! Hi Edward! We were just asking Bella here to come shopping with us-"_

"_Cut the bullshit Lauren, I know what you were doing, and I swear to god if you ever lay a finger on her, the whole town will know about your little escapades with coach Clapp in the teachers' lounge every Friday after school" he said confidently, with a small smirk._

"_How the fuck do you know about that?" she fumed_

"_That's for me to know, and perhaps the rest of Forks to find out- unless you come anywhere within a 5 mile radius of Bella again"_

"_Bastard" she muttered under her breath before strutting away, her groupies following behind quickly._

"_Are you alright?" He asked sadly, as he put a comforting arm around my waist._

"_Yeah" I mumbled, not meeting his gaze._

"_Bells, look at me" he said firmly, putting a finger under my chin and tilting it upwards._

"_Aw, sweetie, don't cry," he said quietly as he wiped away a few tears that escaped "They're nothing but fuckin' cold-hearted bitches"_

"_I know, thank you Edward" I said gratefully, with a small smile._

"_No need to thank me Bella, it's my job to keep you safe from people like them..." he told me as we walked toward his car._

_*End Flashback*_

"Oh, I'm so sorry Eddie!" Tanya cried with a pout, and a sniffle. She flung herself into his arms. He caught her gently and pulled her back to look her in the eye.

"It's not me you should be apologising to" he reminded her, casting a glance at me.

"Oh, you're right"

_Huh? _

She left his embrace and came over to me. She sat beside me on the bed and-before I could anticipate it-pulled me into a hug.

"I'm so sorry Bella" she said, sounding genuine, for the first time since I met her. "Please forgive me?"

I stayed frozen.

"Yeah, err...sure Tanya, no worries" That was the best I could come up with.

She pulled back and forced a smile at me. I smiled back.

She then walked over to Edward and kissed him-hard. She blatantly ignored me as she shoved her tongue into his mouth.

I think I vomited a little into mine.

"Well, I'll just leave you two, to, err, get settled, or, you know... Christen the bed..." I mumbled, before running from the room and closing the door behind me- but not before I heard their mutual moans of pleasure.

I ran downstairs as quickly as possible-repulsed by their sounds of passion.

I went into the kitchen-not surprised to see Esme in there, putting some cookie dough onto a baking sheet. The minute she saw me she gave me a knowing look.

"Go on, spill" She said knowingly

"I hate her Esme" I began "She's a bitch! A conceited, vain, big-boobed bitch! And besides-she's not Edwards type! He told me so himself! He's not into blondes!"

"And what exactly is his type Bella?" she said with a mischievous smile.

"Someone more, more-''

"Like you?" she finished

"No" I said defensively "Well not exactly like me, we're best friends..."I trailed off.

"Mhmm..." Esme hummed, staring at me with that same knowing look.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing"

"But-'' I was cut off by the doorbell ringing.

"That's the others, will you get it for me dear?" she asked.

"You don't need to ask me twice!" I responded as I ran for the door. I flung it open to reveal my four friends.

"Bella!" Alice beamed as she stepped forward to give me a hug.

"Ssh!" I whispered quickly, before stepping onto the porch and closing the door over behind me.

"What's the matter bells?" Jasper- Alice's fiancée and one of my best friends- asked curiously.

"We have an emergency." I told them seriously.

"Well what is it squirt?" Emmett asked.

"Edward brought home his new girlfriend" I started

"Ahh...you're jealous and want her gone so you can have him all to yourself again. Let me handle this." Rosalie said quickly as she dropped Emmett's hand and tried to walk passed me, with a determined look.

"No Rosalie! It's not like that!" I scolded her.

I became friends with Rosalie and her brother Jasper when they moved here from Colorado, for their dad's work. I was already friends with Edward, Alice and Emmet at the time...Anyways, one day Emmett brought Rosalie home and introduced her as his girlfriend-which surprised the hell outta me (Emmett wasn't what you would call a relationship kinda guy) and they've been together ever since. Next was Alice and Jasper- they however, were a little slower developing their relationship-or so we thought. We actually found out about Alice and Jasper, by walking in on them in a heated make-out session in the janitors closet-something we still tease them about to this day. So according to them, it only made sense that Edward and I would end up dating- I don't know whether I like the idea of that anymore.

"Sure Bella" Rosalie said sarcastically. Point Proven.

"Well then, what's the problem?"

"She's a bitch. A spoiled, vain, conceited, selfish bitch, who doesn't deserve Edward. She doesn't appreciate him, and I want her gone. Edward deserves better." I told them forcefully. I suddenly felt like I was lying for my benefit.

"Okay, obviously we'll help you Bella" Jasper said kindly "We trust your judgement. Let us meet her first, and then we'll decide what to do about her."

"Thanks you guys, I really do appreciate it. I want what's best for him." I said, opening the door. I could have sworn I heard Emmett mumble '_yeah right'_ under his breath.

Esme and Carlisle greeted our friends while I called Edward. There was no answer after the first few tries. So I decided to go and get him. I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard my name being said.

"Tanya, if you want this relationship to work then you have to be nicer to Bella." Edward said sharply.

"Well, if she wasn't all over you then I wouldn't have to pretend to be nice!" she snapped.

"Tanya, she's my best friend-''

"Who's in love with you! I've seen the way she looks at you Edward. She looks at you like you're some angel that fell from heaven" she did have a point. Edward was like an angel...a sweet, caring, considerate-_snap out of it Bella!_

"Bella doesn't feel that way about me Tanya" He said, with a hint of _sadness_ in his voice?

There was silence on the other side of the door. I took this as my cue to make myself known. I tapped the door gently, and it flew open.

"What do you want?" she snarled at me with pure hatred.

"Tanya!" Edward yelled.

Edward came into view and gently nudged her out of the way. He smiled at me apologetically, obviously knowing that I was eaves dropping.

"Yeah Bella?" he asked gently.

"I just wanted to inform you that there are four very eager people downstairs, who wish to see you" I said.

"Seriously?" he asked "That's awesome! I've missed them all so much!"

"They've missed you too, we were thinking of having a movie night, if you're interested?" I asked hesitantly. I didn't know exactly what stage Edward and Tanya's relationship was at, but I hoped to God that they had nothing planned.

"Of course I fucking want to!" He replied eagerly, as he grabbed my hand and continued to tow me down the stairs. I suddenly felt like an electric spark run through my fingertips, and I shuddered involuntarily. He looked at our attached hands curiously, before continuing down to the others- Tanya left forgotten.

"Edward! My man!" Emmett boomed as he came over and grabbed Edward into a man-hug "It's good to see you man" he said

"Oh, Edward!" Alice exclaimed dramatically, pulling him into a hug. "Thank heavens you're back! I swear, Bella was beginning to get separation anxiety!" she cried.

"Very funny Alice" I said sarcastically.

"Well it's true!" Her yes then caught the sight of mine and Edwards finger entwined together. She raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow at me in question. I just shook my head at her. I knew what she was thinking.

The others continued to welcome Edward home and ask him some questions about Alaska, before we heard the sound of heels clicking down the stairs.

"Ahem!" Tanya's voice cleared, effectively catching everyone's attention in the room.

"Hi everyone! I'm Tanya- Edwards' girlfriend, it's so nice to finally meet you all" she said kindly.

I stared at her in shock-as did everyone else. From the comments I made about her, they were likely expecting the devil to meet them. No one said anything for a moment, before Emmett saved us from the awkward silence.

"Nice to meet you too Tanya. We were about to watch a movie, do you wanna join us?" he asked.

"I'd love to!" she replied sweetly.

What was going on here? She was a royal biatchress to me earlier, and now she's acting like a frickn' saint! Maybe she doesn't like me because of my close relationship with Edward. I mean, she did mention that Edward spoke of me _a lot_; maybe I seem like a threat to her or something.

Everyone quickly disappeared to get food and other movie night necessities. I disappeared upstairs to get a blanket, until I realised Emmett, and Alice both followed me.

"Bella, are you sure you're not just over-reacting a little? She seems really nice..." Emmett trailed off, looking slightly scared, from my murderous expression.

"No I'm not fucking over-reacting! She was bitch almighty to me earlier today, and now she's acting like mother-fucking Teresa!" I yelled in frustration.

"Okay, honey. We'll all keep a close eye on her, okay? And when there is any hint of bitchiness coming from her, we'll let you know. However, I do get the sense that she's just putting on an act for Edwards' sake, maybe if we gave her an approval, she'll be on Edwards good side." Alice said, as she gathered a few pillows.

"Ooh! Can we watch "Funny Girl"? Please?" Alice exclaimed as we got comfy.

"Yeah!" Rosalie and I exclaimed in unison.

There was a collective groan from the guys.

"Oh, come on guys! It's Barbara! You gotta love her!" I tried to convince them.

"Trust me, I've got nothing against Barbara" Edward said defensively "The problem is that we've already watched this movie, like, a bajillion times!" he said exasperated.

"And now it'll be a bajillion and one times" I snapped back playfully, as I grabbed the DVD from the shelf, and put it on.

Alice, Jasper and I sat on the floor; Rosalie sat on Em's lap on the recliner, while Tanya and Edward sat side by side on the love-seat. The movie was really brilliant, we laughed and joked and the final song once again brought me to tears, by the emotion pouring from her voice.

"I think someone is PMS-ing'' Tanya said jokingly, officially ruining the beautiful end note.

"Thanks for ruining the end of the movie Tanya" I said, truly annoyed that she couldn't shut up for just a few more seconds.

"Bells always gets a little emotional at the end of this movie, not that I blame her-it really is heart wrenching" Jasper said in my defence.

"It wasn't that great, I mean who the fuck is that Barbara one anyway?" she laughed, trying to make a joke-no one laughed with her.

"We should really get going, it's getting late" Alice said quickly, before anyone could say anything.

"You're staying the night, right Bella?" Edward asked, as the others got ready to leave.

"Huh?" Tanya asked in confusion.

"Yeah, if that's okay. Carlisle insisted, so I wouldn't have to drive back to Seattle," I told him

"Of course its okay Bella, you're always welcome."

Tanya appeared to be having an aneurism.

"We'll be over tomorrow around twelve, so we can do something fun" Rosalie told me just as they were leaving.

"Sounds good, see you's tomorrow!" I called as they got into their respective cars and drove home.

I turned around to see Edward and Tanya's retreating figures as they climbed the stairs hand in hand. I ran into the kitchen to grab a glass of water, before following them. Just as I reached the top of the stairs, I heard them talking quietly in the guestroom. _Now Bella, you should know by now not to eaves drop_-my subconscious told me, _just continue to your room_. Oh! Edward said my name!-No just keep walking Bella, go to bed.

_Aw the hell with it!_

"I'm so proud of you Tanya." I heard Edward say, as my mouth dropped open in shock.

"Well, I do want your friends to like me Eddie. They all seem so nice, but I don't think Bella likes me much..." she said in a sad voice.

_No Shit Sherlock._

"I'm sure they all love you Tanya" _you should know better than to be presumptuous Edward!_ I mentally scolded him. "And as for Bella, I'm pretty sure she would never act like that to you if you weren't so mean to her this morning. Just try to make amends" he told her gently, as I tried to control my repulsion over his words. The only way I'll ever be able to forgive Tanya, is if she would leave...And I don't think that's gonna happen in the near future, unfortunately.

"Okay Eddie, I'll try my best" she said in a sugar-sweet tone. _Blah._

"Thank you"

I then heard footsteps coming closer, so I immediately ran down the hall towards my room. The door opened, and Edward stepped out.

"Bella?" he whisper-yelled.

"Yeah?" I whisper-yelled back, exaggerating the strength in my voice jokingly.

He chuckled quietly.

"Get changed and meet me in my room in five, we didn't really get to talk earlier."

My heart soared.

"Sure!" I whisper-yelled as I ran into my room and got ready. I suddenly felt disappointed that I didn't bring any nice pyjamas with me- I only brought some ratty old shorts and a tank top..._Hold the phone! _Since when do I care what I look like in front of Edward? He's seen me at my worst, so why does it suddenly matter now? I asked myself. _Because you've got a crush on him..._the annoying voice in my headsang. Ah! Stop Bella!

I put my pyjamas on quickly and gave my hair a quick brush, before running from the room and down the hall towards Edwards. I opened the door and found him lying on his back on the bed scrolling through his i-pod. He had a focused look on his face as he watched the little screen of the iPod in his hand, it was the most amazing facial expression I had ever seen...

I sat beside him, and he finally looked up, his dazzling green eyes twinkled in the moonlight that seeped through the large windows.

"Bells, I'm really sorry about Tanya's behaviour" he said apologetically, while gazing into my eyes solemnly. "I had no idea that she would react like that to you."

"Why _did_ she react like that?" I asked him. I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear him say it.

"She thinks you're in love with me and were trying to seduce me earlier" he laughed- it sounded forced.

"That's ridiculous!" I laughed back, it sounded wrong.

"Anyway, I set her straight" he said "Well, enough about my love life, what about you? Any guys I need to beat up for treating you inappropriately?" he chuckled.

"Well I did have a few orgies in my apartment while you were away, but I don't want you to beat the girls up-they were fun" I said jokingly, lying next to him.

His jaw dropped, but he recovered quickly and blushed slightly.

"I'm serious Bella! You're an amazing woman, any guy would be lucky to have you! Isn't there anyone you're interested in?"

_Yeah, but he's taken._

"No. Well I mean, I've been on a few dates, and a couple of one-night stands back in college. But I'm not in a serious relationship." I said bluntly. "So how's the company going?" I asked, effectively diverting the topic of discussion.

"It's going well, we've become very popular- I've been called a few times by other branches that want to enter a partnership, but I'm not so sure yet. I was thinking of opening a firm in Seattle." He said with a smile.

"Really?" I squealed in excitement.

"Ssh!" he scolded me.

"Really?" I repeated again, quietly, with the same level of excitement.

"Yeah, I'd like to move closer to home. But I want to keep my job, so moving seems like a valid solution."

"Edward you have to do it! Esme and Carlisle miss you so much when you're gone" I only partially lied the last part- I really wanted him to move for my benefit.

"I'm still thinking it through. But I'll tell you when I know for sure what the plan is." he said.

"What about Tanya?" I asked reluctantly.

He hesitated for a moment.

"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it" he replied.

We continued the discussion of our jobs, family, our old friends, his new ones in Alaska, the girls he dated, the guys I dated...

"I'm gonna get a beer, I've a feeling we'll be here a while, do you want one?" he asked as he got up from the bed and moved towards the door.

"Yeah, that would be great." I replied.

He arrived back a few minutes later with the two beers, a bottle of tequila, and two shot glasses.

"What's this for?" I asked, gesturing to the clear bottle.

"I've decided we should play a game of would you rather." He said, as he sat down again.

"Wow, the first time we played was graduation night. I came home piss-ass drunk, and Charlie grounded me for months." I laughed.

"That was partially my fault." He said sadly "I should have been watching out for you"

"Edward, don't take the blame, please? We were both in the wrong that night, by foolishly drinking excessive amounts of tequila."

"Okay, okay!" he said in exasperation "Let's play. So basically, if you don't want to, or can't answer a question-you have to take a drink, okay?"

I nodded enthusiastically. "I'll go first."

He nodded.

"Would you rather...be stuck in an elevator with three wet dogs, or three sweaty fat men, with bad breath?" I asked.

"What kind of question is that?" he laughed.

"It was the first thing I thought of!"

"Fine. The wet dogs, for obvious reasons." He said.

"Okay, your turn" I said as I took a sip of my beer.

"Hmm...Would you rather have every hair on your body plucked off, or every fingernail ripped off?"

"Definitely hair plucked. It can't be worse than waxing, that shit hurts like hell! Alice took me to a salon a few months ago, and insisted I do it to relax- trust me when I say I did no relaxing for a few days after!" I exclaimed in exasperation, throwing my hands in the air.

"Bella, have you been drinking the tequila when I wasn't looking?" he asked seriously, but his lips were tugging up at the corners.

I slapped his arm.

"Okay, I've got another one for you. Would you rather, no longer use any form of birth control, or give up receiving and giving oral sex forever?"

"Since when did this game become sexual?" I asked.

"Since now. I think this will make it much more interesting. Now answer the question."

I grabbed the tequila bottle and shot glass, and continued to pour myself some, before knocking it back quickly.

Edward looked at me expectantly.

"I can't choose, they're both great!"

He laughed, but stopped when he seemed to realise something.

"Wait. Who did you give oral sex to?" he asked curiously with a hint of anger.

"Remember that time I went to my first frat party?"

"Yeah..." he responded cautiously.

"Well, myself and my friend Angela got drunk off our asses, and I went home with a guy called Tyler..." I trailed off "I don't remember exactly what happened, but he told me the next morning that I gave him a BJ but couldn't go any further when I vomited afterward. Not one of my proudest moments" I said guiltily.

I looked up at Edward then, to see he was looking down at me with his eyes burning.

"Edward?" I asked

"Sorry," he apologised "Let's carry on." His voice sounded strained.

"Okay, would you rather have sex but can't come, ever. Or never have sex again?" I asked.

He took a quick look at me, before grabbing his shot glass and knocking back a shot.

"Next" I said.

"Would you rather give a midget a blow job every day for the rest of your life, or...have sex with me?"

I choked on the beer I was in the process of swallowing. Before grabbing the bottle of tequila and knocking some back-not bothering with the glass.

"Bella I'm offended!" he said in mock horror, but I could detect slight disappointment too.

"Do you want me to pick you?" I asked with a smirk.

He reached for the bottle.

"That wasn't a part of the game" I said holding the bottle away.

He looked at me with a disbelieving expression.

"A midget Bella? Really?"

I fell back against the bed with a grunt.

"It's my turn!" I reminded him.

"I know, but now I'm curious." He said "Would you really not do it with me?"

"Well..." I mumbled, reaching for the liquor-he pulled it away.

"Fine! Yeah I would! Now give me the bottle" he handed it over with a huff.

"Would you rather have sex with me or Tanya?" I asked- the booze giving me some confidence.

He reached for the bottle.

"Ah, ah, ah!" I sang "I gave you an answer-you have to reciprocate." I demanded childishly.

"It depends..." he mumbled.

"On...?" I encouraged.

"Well, if you weren't my best friend, and I met you at a bar or something, then probably you...But given the current circumstances-Tanya."

"Oh, so you're saying that if we weren't friends-"

"Bella, I'm really tired, you know, jetlag and whatnot. Do you mind if we sleep" he cut me off nervously.

"Sure" I said, dropping the subject

_For now._

**What's your best "would you rather" question? **

**Hope you liked it,**

**Emsie x**


	3. You're my best friend

_There is no other one who _

_can take your place_

_I feel happy inside when I _

_see your face  
><em>

_I hope you believe me  
><em>

_Cause I speak sincerely  
><em>

_and I mean it when I tell you that I need you  
><em>

_You're my best friend  
><em>

_and I love you, and I love you  
><em>

_Yes I do_

**-My Best Friend, Weezer**

**EPOV**

I watched as she stood up and kissed my forehead gently, before bidding me goodnight and leaving the room.

The skin of my forehead fucking _tingled_ where her lips had touched.

I sighed and fell back on my bed with a _huff._

I'd missed Bella. Hell, I'd missed everything about Forks. Life here was the fuckin' _definition_ perfect.

_Well, it _was_ perfect._

Driving from the airport was pure chaos. There was ongoing traffic that stretched for miles, Tanya was constantly babbling nonsense in my ear, and all I could think of was Bella-no wonder Tanya was angry earlier _"Eddie hasn't stopped talking about you!"_ she'd said _"Too much actually"_- and it's true, Bella is constantly on my mind. Seeing her again was really the whole point of this trip. Of course I'd missed my parents dreadfully-but I saw them often-they came to visit me regularly. Bella on the other hand couldn't afford to visit me as often.

When she'd leapt onto my back earlier-I felt sixteen again. (When we were younger I'd constantly give her piggy-backs-simply because she couldn't walk across a flat surface without bloody well finding something to trip over). However, when I pulled her around to see my sweet, little Bella's face-the word surprised doesn't even begin to fucking cover how I felt.

Bella had always been attractive, but seeing her at that moment- She was absolutely beautiful.

She had the same slightly curled hair, except it was shorter and had some layers. She had a womanly figure now and had curves that any girl would fucking kill for-in other words she had an awesome ass.

_Don't judge me! I am a man!_

Her pale skin was soft and flawless with a gorgeous pink blush spread across her cheeks. Her brown eyes sparkled as I looked into them. Her plump lips parted and she smiled at me. I felt my heartbeat triple in time as I thought of leaning in and kissing her- I've never felt an urge like that before...

I shook my head-shaking away the thoughts, and thought about Tanya.

I knew it wouldn't take long for her to interrupt my lust induced faze. I knew before Bella even met Tanya that they would have their fare share of quarrels. Bella is _very_ protective of me, and it was really no surprise when she told Tanya off for calling me Eddie. I could tell she was abso-fucking-lutely pissed when I told her of mine and Tanya's relationship- whether it was simply because I failed to tell her, or because she was jealous is beyond me. A part of me secretly hoped it was the latter.

But when she pretty much attacked me on the bed, I nearly lost it. She was straddling my waist, with her arms placed on either side of my head. Her luscious hair created a curtain between us and the rest of the world.

She had looked down at my lips and back to my face again, and moved her hips slightly, making Edward Junior stand to attention, if you know what I mean. I wanted to kiss her, then perhaps rip her clothes off and take her right there on my bed.

That was until Tanya stormed in and snapped me out of my lust induced reverie. She was furious, which was understandable, considering the very compromising position myself and Bella had been in.

I began to see red as Tanya called Bella a bitch. I tried to tell Tanya as calmly as possible-in simpler words '_fuck off'. _I don't know what came over me- I mean I was always protective over Bella and vice-versa. But I was immediatelybrought back to High school, when Lauren and her wannabes stole Bella's clothes...

XXX

_I was waiting in my car for Bella to come out of the school. I knew she had gym, so she may be in the showers. _

_As I watched the doors, _still_ fucking waiting for Bella to hurry her ass up, Lauren strutted through the parking lot with a smug look on her face. I wondered what student had suffered to put that smile there..._

_Twenty minutes._

_It's been twenty-god damn-minutes, and still no sign of Bella._

_I was about to get out and look for her when my cell rang._

_I rummaged through my backpack before pulling it out. The invigorating guitar lines of Nirvana's "Smells like Teen Spirit" rang through the parking lot. I checked the caller ID and saw Bella's name flash across the screen._

"_Bella? Where the fuck are you? It's been a half hour since school ended!" I exclaimed, exasperated._

_There was a short silence, before she finally whimpered "Edward?" feebly._

_My heart sank. Her voice sounded scratchy, as though she'd been crying this whole time._

"_Bella, are you alright?" I asked, panicked._

"_Edward, I need your help" she sobbed._

"_Okay Bells, just tell me what's wrong." I said, trying not to freak the fuck out._

"_When I came out of gym, I went straight to the showers. I left my bag and towel just outside the door, but now, they're gone, and the water was just switched off, and, and, I d-don't know what to do!" She cried, her breathing coming out in short gasps as she started to panic._

"_Okay Bella, I need you to calm down for me. I'll be there in five minutes tops, okay?"_

"_Thank you Edward." She said, gratefulness dripping from every word._

"_No need" I said softly and walked towards the school._

_When I got into the school, I headed straight for the gym closet. Inside were sports equipment and my objective for today-cheer uniforms._

_I grabbed one around Bella's size and then ran to my locker. I opened it quickly and pulled a towel out-I always kept one in my locker for incidents such as these-and ran to the girls shower room._

_As I ran, I thought of Laurens malicious smile as she left the school. That girl had a rotten sense of humour._

_When I arrived at the locker room, I opened the door and listened. The room was mostly silent, apart from quiet sobs in the corner of the room, behind a shower door._

"_Bella?" I called, tapping on the door._

"_Oh Edward. Thank you so much" she sighed in relief and opened the door slightly, just enough to put a wet arm through and take the towel and clothes._

_I felt like such an ass. Not moments ago was I sitting in my car moaning about her being late, like the asshole I can be, while she was sitting in here, freezing, scared, and possibly very humiliated._

"_I'll wait outside the door okay?" I asked softly._

"_Yeah, that's fine" she sniffled._

_She came out a few minutes later with severe puffy, red eyes, damp cheeks and her hair was still wet. Other than those minor set-backs, she looked fucking hot in the uniform. Her pale creamy legs were long and slender, and the bust was just a little too tight, causing some major cleavage to appear. I snapped back to reality when I noticed she was shivering._

_I took her into my arms and rubbed her back tenderly. She pushed her face into my chest and took deep breaths._

"_It's okay Bella, you're okay. I won't let anything like that happen to you again." I vowed._

"_Edward?" she asked quietly after a few moments, pulling her head back to look at me._

"_Thank you" she said gratefully._

"_There's no need to thank me" I told her "It's my job to protect you"_

"_Hmm," she sighed "Can we go? I'm freezing, and am in desperate need of a cupa' tea" she laughed shakily._

"_Okay, let's go" I smiled, taking her hand and lead her to the car._

_Once we were in I remembered something._

"_Oh, and Bella?" I asked_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Ever think of trying out for cheerleading?"_

XXX

Bella never deserved that kind of treatment-hell; _no one _deserved that kind of treatment. However sometimes, experiences like that change us for the better.

In our final year of high school, Bella became depressed.

She told me one day when I'd found her crying in her basement. She explained to me how she felt constantly angry, and was overly sensitive. She complained about anything she could, and we've had more fucking arguments than I can count.

I knew something was wrong. This wasn't my Bella- and I hated it.

That day when I'd found her in the basement was the day I was going to ask her what the bloody hell was wrong with her. Just as we began talking, she poured her whole heart out to me. She looked so helpless and vulnerable as she described in detail how she was feeling. Between being bullied in school, and coming home to see her parents sign divorce papers-she was a mess.

Eventually, Emmet and I talked her into seeing a doctor. It really helped her. She started to go out to parties, listen to music, and really not giving a fuck about what anyone said to her. She became stronger, and more independent. While I watched like a proud dad.

The rest of the night was brilliant. I missed the guys, Em and Jazz have been my wingmen for so long and our friendship ran deep. I forgot how much I missed Alice, she's still like a fucking energiser bunny on crack, but I loved the little squirt.

Rosalie and I had an odd relationship. When I first met her she seemed standoffish and obnoxious. It wasn't until I heard her humming to Led Zeppelin in Bella's kitchen that my view on her changed.

It was liberating, being with the gang again, I felt like a teenager. I don't have many friends in Alaska, and until now, I'd forgotten what it's like.

Watching Bella watch "Funny Girl" is _the_ fucking most entertaining thing I'd ever seen. Her reactions were erratic. I watched her the whole time, totally engrossed in her responses to different scenes. I watched her like a hawk on the final scene. The first time I'd watched this movie with her-she'd cried like a baby.

Bella may be a strong, independent, hardcore rock-chick. But deep down, she's a fucking sap.

She'd castrate me if she ever heard me say that.

I watched as she mouthed the lyrics to the final song, with a small frown on her face. Her bottom lip began to tremble as her eyes welled up in tears. I felt a strong urge to comfort her, but the sadness in her eyes quickly turned to anger as Tanya tried to make a joke out of it. The key word being '_tried'_.

Something was up with everyone. They kept stealing glances between me, Bella, and Tanya-like they were waiting to pounce in case something happened. I didn't understand it.

Later when I left Tanya in the guest room, I spotted Bella trying to sneak back into her room, and failing I might add. So I told her to meet me in my room, I simply couldn't let the opportunity of alone time with her pass up.

Our game was fucking intense to say the least.

She came in wearing tiny, ass- fucking- cheek bearing short shorts, and a tank top. If that wasn't enough to get Junior up and running, he practically wailed in agony as she started talking about fucking orgies and shit. Because seriously, the image of Bella and another girl getting it on?

A complete and utter fucking turn on ladies and gentlemen.

My emotions were like a god-damned roller coaster through the whole game. Partly due to my alcohol intake. One minute I wanted to kiss her like there's no tomorrow and straight after those thoughts I wanted to hit myself for having such inappropriate thoughts about my best friend.

Sometime during my thoughts-I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up to sunlight streaming through the glass wall and onto my face. I smiled as I smelt eggs and bacon, wafting from the kitchen, and stretched. My head was throbbing slightly from last night's drinking escapade, but other than that I felt pretty great.

The door creaked open and Tanya came in with a smile on her face.

Now let me get one thing straight here people. Tanya is a good person, she may not exactly show it, but it's there, you just have to get to know her.

"Morning" I mumbled

"Good morning" she replied sweetly, crawling onto the bed and kissing me lightly.

"I made everyone breakfast" she said proudly

"Really?" I asked in disbelief.

Tanya couldn't cook a meal if her life depended on it. I don't even butter my own bread- I consider that cooking, and she couldn't make toast without burning it, something we actually had in common.

"That's really nice of you Tanya" I told her honestly.

"It was the least I could do, you know, after being such a bitch yesterday," she said sadly, dropping her gaze to the comforter and frowning

"Hey" I said, lifting her chin to look her in the eye.

"Thank you. It means a fucking lot to me that you wanna get along with my family"

She scowled slightly-she hated when I used profanities in our conversations-even though she says them herself - but hey I couldn't help it, it becomes a habit-but then nodded and smiled slightly.

I kissed her softly and she turned and left for the kitchen.

I had a quick shower and got dressed in my favourite blue plaid flannel shirt with a grey tee underneath, and jeans. When I was outside the kitchen door, I heard Tanya and Bella speaking quietly.

"It's upstairs, you may have to dig for it" I heard Tanya say.

I heard footsteps then, and Bella appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. She smiled at me, gave me a quick "_Good morning"_ and ran up the stairs.

When I walked into the kitchen, I noticed the entire island was covered in food. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, croissants, and other mouth-watering foods covered the entire surface.

I think I drooled a little.

"Tanya this looks fucking awesome!" I exclaimed.

She glared at me.

"Sorry" I apologised quickly.

The bell rang, and I heard-what sounded like Bella-get the door, and then I could hear multiple voices get louder and then Esme, Carlisle, Bella, and well everyone came shuffling in.

"What are you Guys doing here?" I asked

"We told you we'd be here, plus we heard there was breakfast." Emmet responded honestly

We gathered around the island, sitting on barstools and putting food on our plates. I took a bite of my pancake, the vanilla flavouring was mixed with strawberry, and it was extremely familiar. There was only one person I knew that mixed vanilla and strawberry flavouring together.

"MMHMM! Bella these croissants are fuck-awesome!" Emmet moaned in delight, while Esme scolded him for cussing.

"Thanks Em, do you like the pancakes? I used my mom's recipe" she said, while I huffed slightly in realisation that Tanya lied to me.

"They are beyond heavenly Bells" Rosalie interjected, and then she added "I give up, I've been on a diet for two weeks now, and all I've lost are those two weeks"

"Rose, you don't need to lose weight, you're frickn' gorgeous!" Alice told her.

"Thanks Ali," she said.

"Did you make all the food Bella?" I asked intentionally, while Tanya looked at me worriedly.

"Yuuuuuuuuup" she said, popping the 'p' "Everything from scratch!" she beamed with pride at her accomplishment. "Oh, Tanya helped," she added.

I looked at Tanya who looked aggravated, like she wanted to avoid this conversation all along.

_Well that's too fuckin' bad honey._

"Really?" I asked her

"Yeah," she paused "she poured the juice."

"Hmph" I huffed in annoyance at Tanya for lying to me.

"What do you guys wanna do today?" asked Jasper.

"Shopping?" Alice asked hopefully.

"Not a fucking chance sweetheart" Emmet said boisterously.

"Hey, what about that paintball place in Seattle? You know, the one near Bella's place, the one ran by Demetri?" Rosalie suggested.

"That would be really fun" I added hopefully

"And then you guys can come back to my apartment and we can order pizza or something?" Bella said.

"I still have to see your apartment," I told her.

"Oh, I can't wait for you to see it! I put so much effort into the decorating! Oh!" she said hurriedly "Guess what? I got rock band three! We should so play later!" she said really excitedly, jumping in her seat a little.

"Calm down Bells" I laughed, and patted her shoulder, she mock pouted at me and stuck her tongue out at me. "I'm in though" I told her "Obviously" I added.

Everyone nodded in agreement and continued to eat and chat amongst each other.

"Oh, by the way," Emmet mumbled, while chewing some food, "What were you two up to last night?" he teased, nodding to the empty bottle of tequila and two shot glasses that Bella must have brought down with her.

I looked at Tanya who was glaring at me-well I wasn't gonna tell her that I left her last night to play drinking games with Bella now was I?

"We were playing would you rather, while catching up" Bella told them, she looked thoughtful.

"Oh! Remember we played that at Mike Newtons graduation party?" Alice giggled.

"Oh yeah! And then it turned into truth and dare? We were all sooo drunk and kinda high" Emmet laughed.

"We were so irresponsible, and Bella was dared to give Mike a lap dance while gradually stripping? That was priceless!" Rosalie said, smiling.

"Hey now! Someone spiked my drink, and Lauren was calling me a wuss, so I had to prove her wrong. Besides, Jasper pulled me away from him when my shirt was halfway off" Bella chortled.

"Mike wouldn't leave you the fuck alone for weeks" I chuckled at the memory of Bella hiding behind me in the school halls every time he passed by.

We decided to clean up after that, and leave for the paintball arena in Seattle.

"Hey, why don't we all go in the jeep, it's easiest, and we'll fit" Emmet said.

"No we won't" Bella mentioned "It's six- seated. There are seven of us."

"Well then you can sit on someone's lap" he said happily.

She didn't look convinced.

"You do know that's illegal" she stated.

"Come on Bells, we'll live," I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her into the car and onto my lap unthinkingly.

Tanya jumped in next and sat beside me, tugging at my hand, and keeping it in hers with annoyance written all over her features.

_She was piiiiiiiiiiised._

We took off and Bella, moved in my lap slightly from the force. The movement caused junior to perk up slightly.

_Shit! Down Boy!_

Bella didn't seem to notice my little problem, as she continued to stare out the window.

However, when we started to go over some speed bumps in the road-my problem became a little more evident, as her sweet ass rubbed against me. She stiffened and turned her head to look at me with a smirk on her face.

"You okay there Edward?" she asked with a smile in her voice, quiet enough so no one would hear.

"You think this is _funny_?" I asked her incredulously.

"No, I think you're a perv" she joked quietly

"I can't exactly help it, you're grinding into me!" I whispered.

She dropped it after that. I caught Emmets eye in the rear-view mirror, who was looking at me and smirked knowingly at me.

_What a bastard._

"So Tanya," Alice asked. "How exactly did you and Edward meet?"

"There was a party of a friend we both knew. We were introduced to each other, and have been inseparable since!" she gushed "He's such a charmer"

"_Oh know_" Bella and I sang in unison, and then laughed.

"What?" Tanya asked, half pissed, half curious.

"Oh, it's just, you said '_such a charmer'_, they're lyrics to a Kings of Leon song" I told her.

"Kings of who?" she asked rudely, still pissed we interrupted her story.

"Never mind Tanya" I sighed.

There was an awkward silence until Jasper finally had the sense to turn on the stereo, and relieve some of the tension.

"Living easy, living free, season ticket on a one-way ride" Bella sang softly. "Asking nothing, leave me be, taking everything in my stride" 

"Don't need reason, don't need rhyme, ain't nothing I would rather do" I sang, and she smirked at me.

"Turn it up Em!" I told him. 

_Going down, party time__  
><em> 

_My friends are gonna be there too_

"I'm on the highway to hell!" Everyone sang together 

_No stop signs, speed limit__  
><em> 

_Nobody's gonna slow me down__  
><em> 

_Like a wheel, gonna spin it__  
><em> 

_Nobody's gonna mess me round__  
><em> 

_Hey Satan, paid my dues__  
><em> 

_Playing in a rocking band__  
><em> 

_Hey Momma, look at me__  
><em> 

_I'm on my way to the promise land__  
><em> 

_I'm on the highway to hell__  
><em> 

We laughed as we finished the song, and conversation flowed freely from there-no more awkwardness.

_There's the power of music for ya._

An hour later, we pulled up outside the outdoor paintball arena. We got out and walked up to the guy in charge, Demetri, Rosalie had called him earlier.

"Hey Demetri! This is my good friend Bella!" Emmet told him, when we approached.

I looked at him inquisitively, wondering why he'd start the conversation by mentioning Bella. I looked over at her-she looked just as confused as I felt.

Demetri approached her then, and took her hand, he pulled it to his lips and kissed it while she blushed slightly at the attention, and smiled at him.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Bella" he told her.

"Y-you too" she stammered and blushed, but smiling at his attempt at flirting.

This guy better watch it. He's staring at her like she's something to eat! I swear if he makes one bad move I'd personally rip his balls off and feed them to our neighbour's dog.

_I'm very protective over her okay?_

"Emmet and Rosalie have told me so much about you, it's great to finally meet you" he said.

_Em and Rose say wa?_

Bella, Alice, myself and Jasper looked at them in confusion. They just smiled in response.

"So let's get started. Uniforms are to the right, and the changing rooms are to the left. When you're ready, come back out here and I'll give you a gun" the knob head said.

We parted ways then, getting ready and then met up outside the rooms. When the girls came out in their uniforms, my mouth dropped open in awe.

Bella was wearing short camouflaged shorts, that showed her long legs-which was cut off at her shin by army boots- and a matching shirt- the shirt was unbuttoned and tied in a knot beneath her breasts, causing her cleavage to bunch up. Her hair was up in a ponytail and had two black lines drawn across her cheeks.

I shamelessly ogled her body's perfection.

That was when I noticed that the other girls were all dressed the same, and Emmet and Jasper were openly gawking at their girlfriends-as I _should_ be.

Apparently we weren't the only ones to notice.

_Fuckin' knob-head._

**BPOV**

"Rosalie, why the fuck was that gorgeous guy delighted to _'Finally meet me'"_ I asked her as we entered the girl's dressing room.

I wasn't actually angry with her and Emmet for telling him about me-I mean, why would I turn down a gorgeous guy like that? Blonde messy hair, blue eyes, and a body to die for? I don't think so.

"Well, you're the only one without a boyfriend, you're a great girl and you deserve a guy that will look out for you, plus Demetri's really cool" she said, but I could tell there was more.

"Aaaaaaaaaaand?" I encouraged.

"You need to get laid" she said bluntly.

"Can't deny that" I sighed.

We quickly changed into our uniforms that Alice quickly customised by tying a knot under our bust-line. Rosalie ten took out her liquid eye-liner and drew two lines on each of our cheeks.

_We looked pretty fuckin' hot, if I do say so myself._

When we were outside, the guys openly gaped at us, it was highly amusing. What wasn't amusing was the little or should I say _big _incident earlier in the car.

I couldn't exactly help but jiggle a bit going over the speed ramps in the car. However, Edward seemed to like it. A lot. When I felt him harden beneath me, I got this tingle in the pit of my stomach, and struggled to not grind into him.

_Rosalie's right. I need to get laid._

We decided on a boy's vs. girls' showdown, and made our way to the field. When we got there Demetri stared at me with lust-filled eyes as we made our way to him. I appreciated the ogling, so I made my hips sway slightly as I walked over.

I heard what sounded like choking coming from directly behind me. I turned around to see Edward staring at my ass, but then looked away quickly when he caught my gaze, and turned his attention to Tanya.

I ignored him and continued over to Demetri. When we got there he gave each of us a gun, and ran through the rules. I noticed how he kept looking at me and winking. I also noticed Edward glaring at him.

_Protective asshole._

We started the game then. I got hit too many times to count and it looked like our team was losing really badly. I never saw the guys once, but I did notice Tanya in the corner of the field talking to Demetri.

"You okay Bella?" I heard Demetri call, when they finished their conversation.

"Yeah, just hiding" I laughed.

"Do you want help?" he asked

"Sure"

"Okay, first of all, you're holding the gun wrong" he pointed out as he came to stand behind me "You hold it like this" he said positioning the gun in my hand appropriately, he stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist to hold the gun with me "And keep it at eye-level" he said, I noticed he was then pressing himself into my backside.

I felt uncomfortable and pulled away.

"Thanks', I think I got it from here" I told him moving away and taking off in the opposite direction.

I ran into Edward a couple of times, but only for a few seconds. He'd shoot me out of nowhere, and then chuckle as I looked around in wonder of where he was.

When we finished up, we showered and changed and then started loading up into the car to head back to my place, when Demetri approached me with a smile.

"Thank you for today" I told him sincerely "It was really fun"

"You're welcome" he said "Hey, I was wondering, would you like to go out with me sometime?" he asked hopefully.

"Sure, that would be great, is next Friday okay?" I asked

"Perfect" he purred.

We quickly exchanged details and said goodbye. When I got in the car I was bombarded by questions about the date and one '_Go Bella!' _from Emmet.

"He said he'd pick me up next Friday" I told them.

"I don't like it. Something doesn't seem right about him" Edward said, scowling at me.

"Well I like him, he happens to be a gentleman" I said, defending him.

"Oh yeah, I forgot, all _gentlemen_ these days rub their crotch's off girls asses when supposedly helping them with something" he said sarcastically.

I didn't know how to respond to that.

Later, when we arrived at my apartment, Jasper ordered pizza, while the others set up. I gave Edward and Tanya a small tour around the apartment. Well, I was giving _Edward _a tour, Tanya tagged along, clutching his arm, and kissing him as often as she could. The weird thing was, she was watching me while she did it. As if she was making sure I noticed.

_Weird._

"Now for my favourite part of the apartment" I said as we passed the kitchen and brought them to face the wall beside the windows.

"Wow Bella" Edward said in awe.

The entire wall was covered in frames of all shapes, sizes and colour. Each one filled with a happy memory. There was a row of me and Edward growing up. The first one was in the left corner, we were in a sand pit in nothing but diapers, we each held a melted ice-cream in our hands, our faces covered in the chocolate mush.

The next was of us when we were six. We were walking through a forest, holding hands'; we were facing away from the camera as we trekked through the autumn leaves together.

The next few were similar; Edward and I at the beach, us at our first concert with our parents- which was U2, us playing our guitars in Edwards' back yard in a hammock, us at our first school dance, then again at prom, graduation day, and finally, the day Edward left. I had the remains of tears in my eyes as we were hugging each other, while looking at the camera.

The rest of the pictures were of us and the rest of the gang at different events throughout the years. Others were with the family.

"These are amazing Bella" Edward said quietly

The moment was bittersweet as we reminisced together.

"Oh Eddie! You were such a cute baby!" Tanya exclaimed "You know, we would have such cute babies" she said knowingly.

Edward seemed to choke a little on his own spit.

I laughed at his expression and went to play with the others.

**What was your favourite concert?**

**Thanks' for reading guys! I hope you all liked it! I have a link on my profile for pictures associated with the topics in the chapters.**

**-Emsie**


	4. My Best Friend

**I don't own Twilight.**

_Every time I look at you,_

___I don't know where I'd be,_

___Without you here with me,_

___Life with you makes perfect sense,_

___You're my best friend,_

___You're my best friend, oh yeah_

**My Best Friend-Tim McGraw****  
><strong>

**EPOV**

"No fair Bella! You cheated!" Jasper exclaimed in annoyance, hitting his drumsticks harder than necessary as the scoreboard displayed the results on the screen.

"Jazz, how could I possibly cheat at _Rock_ _Band_?" Bella asked incredulously.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe smack your opponent over the head with your guitar?" he said, exasperated.

Bella huffed and crossed her arms in annoyance like a child.

I laughed at their antics. Bella and Jasper had to be the two most competitive people I've ever met. They'll still be playing in a few hours-rematch after rematch. Reminds me of that one time I played ping-pong with Bella.

After I won the first round, she demanded a rematch, claiming I got lucky and she was only warming up. After seven more rematches she decided to give up. But let's get something straight here, boys and girls. Bella Swan doesn't just '_give_ _up'._

_She punched me in the gut._

And that shit _hurt_.

She didn't apologise either.

"Okay then, since you supposedly won that round 'fairly', I get to pick the next song" Jasper told her sternly.

"Bring it" Bella said tossing him the remote.

He scrolled through the list of songs and stopped on one, while the rest of us looked at him in surprise.

"Jazz, are you sure? This _is_ Bella's area of expertise, don't you think you should pick another song? I mean, Bella dressed like Joan Jett for months in high school! She even got the haircut!" Alice reminded him.

Bella discovered Joan Jett one day browsing YouTube, and thought she was the fuckin' coolest person in existence. She wanted to be just like her. So she went out and bought a leather outfit, and got a mullet.

"Yeah Jasper, I still have the outfit and everything" Bella said smugly

"You do?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yeah,"

"Wanna put it on?" I asked, jokingly "You know, to get the whole effect"

She contemplated my suggestion for a few minutes with a frown on her face.

"Come on Belly, you scared?" Jasper teased.

"No," she defended herself stubbornly "I'm afraid it won't fit" she mumbled as she left the room to change.

"Who's Joan Eddie?" Tanya asked beside me, rubbing my thigh.

I sighed in frustration with her lack of knowledge on my favourite music.

"She was the lead guitarist of the first all-girl rock band" I told her.

"Oh"

"So Tanya, what kinda music are you into?" Rosalie asked, taking a seat beside me on the couch.

"Oh, well I'm a big music fan" Tanya told her, leaning around me to look at Rosalie.

_Yeah, we've fuckin' noticed._

"Really?" Rosalie asked sarcastically, she usually judged people by their taste in music. It was something we all did.

Tanya was an exception.

"What are you into?" she asked

"Well, I like anything really, but at heart, I'm a Justin Beiber kinda gal" she beamed at Rose, expecting a positive response from her answer.

"Wow, you and Eddie have so much in common." Rosalie said, pretty convincingly.

Tanya turned to me, all googly-eyed and shit, positively beaming.

"You like Justin too Eddie?" she asked happily.

"Eh...Sure, he's the guy with moustache, right?"

"No, Eddie-"

I stopped listening. My mouth gaped as Bella emerged from her room. She glided into the room, bursting with confidence. She was wearing tight leather pants, with a slight flare, a leather jacket, a white band t-shirt, and her scruffy black converse. She even messed up her hair a bit.

Did she look this hot in high school? No, I would've noticed. The outfit was much tighter now, especially on her backside.

I attempted to keep my expression inscrutable, and discreetly covered junior with my beer bottle.

Remember I mentioned her having a great ass?

Everyone applauded and laughed at her outrageous outfit choice, as she strides over to the microphone and picked it up.

"Hit it Jazz" she said confidently.

"Woohoo!" Emmett cheered.

The song came on and Jasper started to play his heart out. Rosalie had offered to play guitar, claiming she was Cherie Curry- only Cherie didn't play guitar. She played the notorious guitar lines before Bella started to sing with an undeniable self-assurance.

_I saw him dancing there by the record machine__  
><em>

_I knew he must have been about seventeen__  
><em>

_The beat was going strong, playing my favourite song__  
><em>

_And I could tell it wouldn't be long__till he was with me_

"Yeah, me!" We all sang together. 

"And I could tell it wouldn't be long till he was with me, yeah, me, singin"

_I love rock 'n' roll__  
><em>

_So put another dime in the jukebox, baby__  
><em>

_I love rock 'n' roll__  
><em>

_So come and take your time and dance with me!" _Shesang 

"He smiled, so I got up and asked for his name" As she sang this, she turned and started walking around the room. 

"That don't matter," he said, "'cause it's all the same." At this line, she walked around to Rose.

"He said, "Can I take you home where we can be alone?" She sang seductively, and they began to grind against eachother in a way that should be illegal, I noticed Emmett was ogling them with his mouth hanging open. 

"And next we were moving on and he was with me, yeah, me" They sang in sync. "Next we were moving on  
>and he was with me, yeah, me, singin'" <p>

"I love rock 'n' roll, so put another dime in the jukebox, baby" Bella sang and went to stand on the coffee table in the centre of the room, and shook her hips with everything she had.

It took every bit of my strength to not grab her like a caveman and drag her to the bedroom.

"I love rock 'n' roll, so come and take your time and dance with me!" She flopped back onto the recliner and laughed. 

We all burst into applause, wolf whistling and hooting. She stood and mock- bowed, beaming in delight.

"You know," Emmett interjected, looking between Bella and Rosalie "Joan and Cherie we're lovers for quite a while, wanna end that performance with a nice kiss?" he joked.

"Cherie, wasn't a member of the blackhearts, so _technically_, it wouldn't make sense for them to kiss" Alice added.

"But-"

"I don't know Bella, what do you think?" Rosalie asked Bella, with a playful expression.

"I think we should satisfy the audience" Bella looked at me as she said this, and then looked at my beer bottle, and rolled her eyes.

"Couldn't agree more Bells" Rosalie smirked, and stalked over to Bella.

Rosalie grabbed the back of Bella's head and crushed their mouths together heatedly. Bella's hand came around Rosalie's waist and rested on her ass, squeezing slightly. Emmett, and I stared in shock, while Jasper tried to look anywhere but his sister. Alice was laughing quietly at our expressions.

There was no hope for junior.

They finished as quickly as they started and turned toward us. Bella blushed deeply, but fuckin' smirked and sat on the couch next to Alice, who was laughing maniacally now. Rosalie walked over to Emmett and took his hand.

"We should get going Em, it's getting late" she told him, as if nothing just happened.

Emmett stared at her, probably confused as fuck as to how she changed her demeanour so suddenly.

"Why don't you guys just stay the night? I mean, I have a spare room, and there's plenty of room out here" Bella interjected.

Rose seemed to deliberate for a minute, before agreeing.

"Us too" Alice said taking Jaspers hand and claiming the spare room.

"I guess we could stay." I said, looking at Tanya for confirmation, she nodded eagerly.

"Awesome! I'll just gather some blankets and stuff" Bella said and took off down the hall.

"Bella?" Tanya called, as we set up blankets on the floor in the living room.

"Yeah?" Bella looked surprised.

"Would you mind terribly if Eddie and I used the spare room?" she asked sweetly.

"Em, well...Alice and Jasper are already in there. I guess you could take my room..."

"Oh thank you Bella! Come on Eddie-kins!"

I looked at Bella.

"You sure Bells?" I asked

She hesitated a moment before replying.

"Yeah, it's no bother, I'll sleep out here with Rose and Em" she cringed slightly "Now go with your girlfriend _Eddie-kins"_ she teased.

I glared mockingly at her before walking away and giving her the finger.

"Goodnight everyone!" I called.

I looked back at Bella climbing under the blankets on one side of Emmett, Rose lay on his other side. He grabbed both girls around their shoulders and pulled them to him tightly, mumbling something about how he can get two girls into bed with him at the same time.

When I went into Bella's room I glanced around. It was pretty clean. One side of the room was all glass, looking out onto the streets, the opposite wall was covered by a book shelf, overflowing with worn books and cd's, a couple of records too. The wall beside her bathroom door had a large frame with all her concert tickets placed side by side in it. Some were crumpled and worn around the edges, others were in perfect condition.

Tanya was in the bathroom, so I pulled back the blankets on her double bed and stripped down to my boxers. I hopped in and pulled the blankets around myself. The sheets smelled like Bella-floral. I could imagine her lying here, all snuggled up and cosy-this bed was so fucking comfy.

The bathroom door creaked open, the light streaming into the room. Tanya emerged in her underwear.

_Holy fuck she looked hot._

She climbed onto the bed and began crawling towards me with a seductive smile playing on her lips. She leaned down to kiss me. I kissed her back, and hugged her closer to me. She trailed her hand down my naked chest and stopped at the band of my boxers. She slipped her hand in quickly and grabbed me.

I pulled away instinctively and grabbed her wrist.

"What the fuck are you doing Tanya?" I asked her, I didn't mean to sound so harsh.

She didn't seem fazed by my rudeness.

"I'm trying to pleasure my boyfriend, what's it look like?" she asked and began to trail kisses down my neck.

"Tanya, stop." I said sternly.

I must be insane. My hot girlfriend is offering to jerk me off, and I'm denying her.

_What the fuck is wrong with me? _

"Why?" she asked into my neck.

_Good fucking question!_

"Well, firstly, we're in Bella's bed- don't you think that's a bit disrespectful? She offered us _her_ bed to _sleep_ in. I don't think she'd be too happy with me if she heard us, which, secondly-she will, because she's right outside the door." I said.

"The idea of people hearing us kinda turns me on Eddie" she purred.

"Well, not with my best friend right outside the door" I told her sternly, before pulling her off of me and laying her beside me.

"There's something wrong with you lately Eddie, you better snap out of it soon" she snarled, before turning her back to me and pulling the blankets around herself.

_Yep, I pissed her off again._

I woke up the next morning to music coming from outside the door. The strike of the bass drum and rhythm promptly recalled the song to be "_Fat_ _Bottomed_ _Girls_" by _Queen_.

I gently pulled myself from the bed and tucked the sheets around Tanya's sleeping form. I pulled my clothes from the previous day on and left the room.

_Hey I was just a skinny lad __  
><em>

_Never knew no good from bad __  
><em>

_But I knew life before I left my nursery - huh __  
><em>

_Left alone with big fat Fanny __  
><em>

_She was such a naughty lady, __  
><em>

_Heap big woman you made a bad boy out of me __  
><em>

_Hey hey! __  
><em>

I laughed as I heard Bella's voice mixed with Freddie's as she sang loudly. I also heard pots and pans being thrown around the place, then sizzling, and the fridge opening and closing.

As I approached the kitchen the music got louder-as did Bella's voice, I just rounded the corner when the second verse began.

_I've been singing with my band __  
><em>

_Across the water across the land __  
><em>

_I seen every blue eyed floozy on the way, hey __  
><em>

_But their beauty and their style __  
><em>

_Went kind of smooth after a while __  
><em>

_Take me to them dirty ladies everytime!_

What I saw when I rounded the corner of the kitchen nearly made me pass out. Bella stood at the stove, one hand on the frying pan, the other in the air. Her hair was in a messy bun, with pieces hanging down. She had her back to me, she was wearing those same ass-fuckin'-bearing short shorts she wore my first night back, along with an ACDC concert tee, with the dates on the back.

She was swinging her hips in sync with the bass beat of the drum. My eyes followed her ass as it swayed, my whole head bobbing. I was completely transfixed.

"_Oh won't you take me home tonight? Oh down beside your red firelight" _she sang, pointing the spatula in the air and shaking her head._  
><em>

"_Oh and you give it all you got, fat bottomed girls you make the rockin' world go round!"_ she sang, finally turning around to face me.

"Gah!" she yelped. "Holy mother of fuck! You scared the livin' shit outta me!"

I couldn't hold in my laughter anymore. She looked so shocked that I was standing there. She had flour in her hair and was holding the sticky spatula in a defensive position. The song continued to play in the background.

"It's not funny" she said sternly.

"Your-"laughter "face" I chortled.

She ignored me and turned back to the frying pan.

"You made me burn the fuckin' pancakes! You ass!" she yelled in exasperation. "You can make breakfast now."

I laughed in response, walking over to the top cupboard and pulling out some pop-tarts and putting them in the toaster.

"Done" I smiled smugly, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning back against the counter.

She glared at me.

"Aw, Bellsie, don't be upset" I smiled.

She smirked at the nickname, and continued pouring orange juice into some glasses.

"You smiled! I'm off the hook!" I laughed.

"You totally just stole that line from the Simpsons" she said.

"Sue me, hey, where's everyone else?" I asked, finally noticing their absence.

"They all left a little earlier, Alice said they were going to try out some wedding cakes or something." She mumbled as she stretched up on her toes to try and reach the plates on the top shelf. As she did this, her t-shirt pulled up, exposing her bare back. She jumped in vain, trying to reach, eventually I stood behind her and grabbed one for her and handed it to her. As she turned around her ass rubbed against my crotch, causing Eddie-junior to stand to attention.

_For fuck's sake! I'm gonna get blue-balls!_

"So I was thinking, you wanna jam for a while today? After breakfast? I haven't really had the chance to use my baby yet" she said, passing me a plate with a pop-tart.

Ah yes, Bella's _baby. _Bella got her baby for Christmas from Charlie, that beauty probably cost him two years salary. Rennѐ helped a little, Charlie only accepted a small amount though-he wanted to buy it for his little girl.

At approximately half six in the morning Bella rang me and literally screamed down the phone, because there, sitting beneath her Christmas tree, was a brand new, mahogany, 14 fret, acoustic-electric, _Martin,_ Nick Reynolds.

She screamed down the phone for a good ten minutes, before even telling me what she had gotten.

"Do you still have your Washburn?" I asked, that was Bella's first guitar, she bought it on ebay when she was sixteen. "Of course I do, she's next to the wall of fame" she smiled. "Awesome, I'll go get her"

"I'll just get dressed first, and meet you on the balcony? It's such a nice day, we can play out there" she told me, putting our plates away.

"Sure"

I quickly went into the living room to retrieve the Washburn. It was placed on a stand beside the _"Wall of Fame"_ as Bella liked to call it. I opened the patio door and sat in one of the wicker seats. Bella was right, it was a beautiful day.

The patio door opened as I was strumming some basic chords, and Bella stepped out-carrying her Martin...Followed by Tanya.

_Bella didn't look too happy._

"Morning Eddie!" Tanya squealed, throwing herself into my lap, effectively knocking the guitar out of my hands and onto the hard concrete, a huge crack made its way up the body, stopping just below the saddle.

_Shit, shit, shit, shit..._

Silence.

I looked at Tanya who looked at me sheepishly, with a small smile.

I looked at Bella who looked at Tanya murderously, with a glare.

More silence, and then...

"What the fuck?" Bella yelled.

"I'm sorry." Tanya said bluntly

"You're _sorry_? You're fucking _SORRY_? That was my first guitar! Look at that crack! I'll never get that fixed!" she yelled, absolutely enraged.

"Okay then I'll buy you a new one" Tanya said flippantly.

"That's not the point! You can't just replace my first guitar! I've had that since I was sixteen." Bella's voice was slowly quietening, as the anger evaporated from her, slowly being replaced with sadness.

"Aw, fuck Bells" I mumbled, pushing Tanya from my lap "I'll pay to get it fixed" I said standing beside her and taking her hands in my own.

She shook her head, and huffed.

"No, Edward. You did nothing wrong, you don't have to pay for anything. I've got some money saved up, I'll get it fixed myself." She mumbled.

"Look, Bella. I'm paying to get it fixed whether you fuckin' like it or not. Okay?" I deadpanned.

She nodded.

"Okay, now let's get this show on the road"

She nodded and sat, glaring at Tanya.

I picked up the damaged instrument and adjusted it carefully on my lap.

We played a few songs, but I could tell Bella wasn't as into it as before. Tanya tried singing along with songs she didn't know, and insisted on me showing her some chords.

Bella put her foot down when Tanya tried to hold the guitar.

"Well, em...I just got an e-mail from my boss this morning who wants me to write up a piece on the recession and whatnot, so I, em...Better do that. Not that I want you to leave Edward, I'm just very busy today. Maybe you guys could meet up with Alice and Jasper?" she said quickly, ushering us inside the apartment and toward the door.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" I asked her quickly, before she could slam the door in my face, yet understanding her urgency.

I wouldn't want Tanya near my guitar either.

"Yeah, sure. Alice wants to look at flower arrangements, and _insists_ we all go" she said, laughing lightly.

"Haha, okay. See you then Bells" I said, pulling her into a hug and kissing her soft cheek.

"What are you doing with my guitar?" she asked when she noticed I left it at the front door.

"I'm going to get it fixed for you, like I said I would" I told her.

"Thank you" she smiled at me and kissed my cheek.

"You're welcome. Bye"

I grabbed the guitar and met Tanya outside the door.

I stopped and glared at her, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Oh Eddie! Don't be mad! You're gonna fix it! She'll live!" she said, smiling.

"Tanya" I sighed "This guitar is very special to Bella, she's had it since she was sixteen, she used it all the time, it's such a sentimental object to her. It holds so many memories."

"So does a bed, but you didn't see her getting all upset, when we slept in it" she muttered angrily.

_I fuckin' give up._

**Firstly, I apologise profusely for the delay...I'm not exactly the best at scheduling things...  
><strong>

**Reviews make me update faster! I swear! Maybe, we can get to 45 reviews this time? **

**Thanks for reading!**

**Emsie x**

**P.S Bella's guitars are on my flikr page, the link is in my profile **


	5. With a little help from my friends

_Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,__  
><em>

_Mmm,I get high with a little help_

_from my friends,__  
><em>

_Mmm, I'm gonna try with a little help_

_from my friends._

**-With a little help from my friends, The Beatles**_  
><em>

**BPOV**

"Holy mother of fuck!" I yelled in exasperation.

I looked down at my bloody underwear in annoyance and sighed. I leaned over in pain as another pang of a cramp shot through my right side. My back ached and I felt as though I would pass out at any second.

This had to be the worst thing that could possibly happen to me right now. Being on my period was like curse from Hades. I couldn't do anything, I was in constant pain for five days and then it was over as quickly as it came. When I lived with Charlie, he just avoided me at all costs. I was a moaning bitch when I was '_In_ _season'_ as Edward liked to say.

Edward picked up this weird habit in high school when aunt Flo came for a first visit.

He hated the term 'period', he didn't like the scientific word, and so he decided to come up with some other terms. There was '_Leak_ _Week ',' Weeping womb' _and one of my personal favourites '_Shark bait'._

I usually just hit him because I was hormonal and wasn't in the mood for his antics. He smiled and laughed, and had it easy, while I was doubled over in agony.

_Bastard_.

I showered quickly and put on my favourite, cosy pyjamas and slippers, and then went to take some Tylenol for the pain in my back.

As the kettle was boiling for some tea, I remembered that I was supposed to be meeting Alice and the rest today to look at centrepieces. I dialled her number and told her I couldn't make it-that I was feeling unwell. She told me she understood, and would try to catch me later.

For the rest of the morning I lounged around the apartment, feeling sluggish. My back wasn't aching anymore, but my cramps were slowly, but surely, getting worse. I watched TV, and made several cups of tea. I eventually turned off the TV and turned on my I-pod. I put my headphones in and lay on the couch, my eyes closed as I listened to the song...'_Home grown, back to the rhythm and back to the beat of the radio...'._

I felt someone rubbing my shoulder. I didn't respond and they shook me a little harder. My eyes refused to open-I was too tired. I mumbled something along the lines of 'Go away', and the shaking stopped. A few seconds passed, when I became slightly coherent, remembering that I was in my apartment and someone was-

My thoughts were cut off abruptly when I felt water being splashed in my face. I jumped up and my eyes flew open, looking for the culprit.

Edward stood off to the side, with a sheepish expression and an empty glass in his right hand.

"Afternoon Bells" he said, a fucking huge-ass grin plastered across his face "Does your kitty have a nose bleed?" he asked, and then laughed at his new phrase.

I glared at him, my fists clenched at my sides as the anger bubbled up inside of me.

"Or, your wound of eve that never heals?" he joked.

I was seething.

"Or-" he was cut off by his own laughter "Is it all anal sex week?" he doubled over, laughing.

And then I lunged forward and punched him in the gut.

"When will you learn that antagonising me when I'm clearly not in the mood, will result with you in pain?" I said, as he put a hand against his stomach and winced.

Charlie put me in self-defence class when I was eight.

I was pretty good.

Edward found that out the hard way.

"Yeah, I know, I'll never learn." he mumbled.

"How did you get in here?" I asked, rubbing my wet face with my sleeve.

"Alice gave me her key when we met them this morning." He said

"And why are you here?" I asked, still pissed off.

"Because I was wondering why you weren't there this morning, and when I asked Alice, she said you were sick. And, Bells, we both know you never get _sick_, so I assumed it was nature's gift that was bothering you." he tried to hold back a smile at the last part.

"Where's Tanya?" I asked indignantly.

I'll never forgive that bitch for putting a crack in my guitar.

"She's with Alice and Rose. I thought it would be best if she wasn't here while you're...Like this..." he trailed off.

I growled a little.

"If it makes you feel any better, I brought you ice-cream?" he said.

"What flavour?" I asked.

"Chocolate chip" he smiled, knowing from the look on my face that he was forgiven.

He was.

"Go get it, and two spoons, and sit with me" I told him.

"Yes ma'am" he said and went into the kitchen.

I took the headphones out of my i-pod and plugged it into the speakers. I let it play on shuffle quietly in the background.

Edward came out quickly and sat down beside me on the couch. He took his shoes off and sat Indian style. He then handed me a spoon and passed me the tub for the first bite.

"Mmm!" I moaned in delight, when the chocolaty goodness graced my taste buds.

I looked over at Edward, who was looking at me with a strange expression.

"You okay _Eddie_?" I teased.

That snapped him out of it.

"Please don't call me that" he pleaded, taking the tub from me and scooping some out.

"Why? You don't seem to mind when your girlfriend calls you it" I reasoned.

"I do! I just gave up telling her not to! She just doesn't listen!" he said, exasperated.

"While we're on the subject, there's something I wanted to talk to you about" I said slowly.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Well, it's mostly about you, and Tanya" I said.

"Okay..."

"Edward, why are you with her?" I blurted out.

He froze for a second.

"What do you mean?"

"Well to be completely honest, she's a bitch! You both have nothing in common, she's snobby, and careless-were you _there _yesterday when she dropped my guitar? She wasn't even sorry!" I ranted.

He stayed silent for a moment before replying.

"Listen Bella. I know, you and Tanya got off to a rough start, and I know she doesn't really know much about music, and she can be inconsiderate sometimes. But Tanya _is_ a good person. I know she is. She's good for me." He said.

"Are you trying to convince me or yourself Edward?" I asked sceptically.

He sighed.

"Look, I don't really know what's happening between Tanya and me at the moment, okay? Just let me try and work this out myself." He said quietly.

I nodded.

"Now," he smiled "How are you feeling" he asked gently, rubbing my thigh.

I literally felt myself tingle from his touch.

"Like shit." I stated bluntly.

He laughed "Yeah, I've guessed that much. Did you take anything?" he asked, his hand lying on my thigh, unmoving.

I felt like I was going to explode from his touch.

"Yeah, I took Tylenol earlier" I stuttered, my heart rate picking up as his hand moved unconsciously up my thigh.

"You okay Bella? You look a little flushed" he said, removing his hand from my thigh to check my forehead for a temperature.

I instantly relaxed.

"No, no I'm fine." I said.

"Oh, and your guitar should be repaired by sometime next week." He said

"How did you-"

"I brought it with me this morning to port Angeles. The music shop is still there, and they do repairs, so I gave it to them" he said. "And as part of the official apology for breaking your guitar, Tanya bought you these" he said, pulling out a small box "She came into the shop with me and asked what it was, when I told her, she asked if she should buy it for you" he said, sheepishly, and handed me the packet.

I looked at the packet.

Pink, plastic guitar strings.

I hate pink.

"Em...Thanks..." I muttered.

He sighed.

"Look, I know they're plastic and you hate pink, but it's the thought that counts" he said.

_Seriously, is he trying to convince me or himself?_

"Yeah, yeah" I mumbled, tossing the pack on the coffee table.

"Bella listen-"

"No Edward, you listen." I said sternly. "I don't like Tanya, okay? Not one bit. So you can act like everything's just fuckin' peachy, without a care in the world. But don't expect me, for even a second to pretend and like her."

There. I said it.

I exhaled in relief.

The silence that followed my exclamation lingered longer than I liked. I looked over to see Edward with his face in his hands. He sighed heavily before turning to face me.

"I don't expect you to pretend anything Bells," he said quietly, defeated. "Just-just give her a second chance okay? We had a long talk when I brought her home last night, and we sorted through some things. She promised to try harder. Will you?" he asked, finally looking at me.

I felt like telling him to fuck off, to leave my apartment for even thinking that I'll get along with Tanya.

Instead, I looked into his sorrowful emerald eyes and nearly melted at the sight. He looked so confused. I felt awful. He obviously didn't know what to do in this kind of situation, and how could he? This was his first major relationship, and here I was pouncing around like a selfish bitch, not taking his feelings into consideration.

"Fine" I said quietly.

"Thank you." He said.

He reached over to me then, and pulled me into a hug. I squealed when he pulled me into his lap and started to tickle me

"Ah!" I squealed. "Edward, stop!" I giggled, trying to turn myself around to face him.

In my vain attempt at twisting around I managed to make Edward lose his balance and fall to the side with me. He ended up on his back with me straddling his waist; my head fell against his shoulder, as his arms found my waist.

_This position was familiar. _

I pulled myself up and laughed at his flushed face.

He was too cute.

He reached up slowly and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. I stared at him the whole time.

The Sun coming through the windows hit his face, casting shadows across his cheekbones. His eyes twinkled from the light shining into them, and he squinted a little. The red in his hair was highlighted slightly. He looked beautiful.

I quickly snapped out of...well whatever I was just in, and noticed he was watching me too. He didn't seem to notice me watching him at first, as his eyes roamed my face, finally landing on my eyes. He smirked when he caught me looking at him.

"Like what you see?" he asked immaturely.

"Do you?" I said back quickly.

"Touché" he smiled.

His phone rang then, and I sadly removed myself from his waist. He sat up quickly and reached for his phone.

"Hello?"

There was some mumbling on the other end that I strained to hear. I didn't realise I was leaning over his shoulder, until he turned his head and looked at me, smirked, and then playfully pushed me away.

I fell back onto the couch and placed my feet in his lap. He sat back against the sofa and tucked my fluffy-sock covered feet under his arms, rubbing my arches gently.

"Yes, I know. I'll be back soon mom!" he said in exasperation. "Can't you just entertain her for a little longer-".

He was cut off abruptly by what seemed to be screaming into the receiver. He pulled his head back instinctively and covered the speaker with his hand.

"Okay, okay! I'll leave right now!"

My heart sunk.

"Okay, bye. I love you too mom" he sighed, with a slight smile, before hanging up.

"You going?" I asked.

"Yeah" he sighed, "Apparently mom doesn't know '_what to do' _with Tanya" he laughed gently.

He got up then and took my hand-heaving me up with him-and pulled me into a bear hug.

I sighed and wrapped my arms around his waist, and laid my head on his shoulder. He buried his face in my hair, and nuzzled slightly.

"Can I come by tomorrow?" he asked gently.

"Of course" I replied immediately.

"I'll leave Tanya with Alice and Rose for the day, and we can sit in and watch some movies, does that sound good?" he asked sweetly.

"Sounds perfect." I looked up at him.

He looked down at me then, and he was...So _close._ Our noses were almost touching. I could smell his sweet breath as he exhaled lightly onto my face. His lips looked so _soft._ I wish I could just-

He pulled away before I could finish my thought. He shook his head, and frowned slightly.

_Shit, I just made this really awkward by staring at his lips._

"I better leave" he said, kissing my forehead gently, and turning for the door.

He stopped and turned back to me.

"Oh, and I was thinking. Maybe when you're better we could go down to the paediatric ward in the hospital, and play for the kids for a couple of hours? I asked Carlisle about it the other day and he said no one was up entertaining the kids in a while. Would you like to do it with me?" he asked.

"I'd love to!" I said happily. Playing for the kids was always fun, we'd play a few songs they could sing along to, and then we'd let them have a try.

I'd trust these kids with my guitar over Tanya any day.

"Cool, I'll tell the others, and they can come help out, seeya Bella" he said, hugging me once more and leaving.

Edward came around the next day, like he promised. We lounged around the apartment, listening to music, and watching horror movies. We talked about his business a bit more; he didn't like it-being a business man. He didn't like the people he worked with or the profession in general. He said that he imagined himself one day, working with music. We both wanted to, but we really didn't have the money or the time to try and find new jobs.

This was the routine for the next few days. Edward would come over. He'd bring a new flavoured ice-cream every day. We'd sit around watching movies, or playing music, or reading. And then Edward would leave at six.

This Friday morning we were planning on going to the hospital

And that night, I had my date with Demetri.

**Thanks for reading!  
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**Quick question! What song was Bella listening to on her I-pod before Edward threw water all over her?**

**Think we can make it to 75 Reviews this time? It's greatly appreciated, and it makes me update faster! See how quick I updated this chappie? :L  
><strong>

**Thanks again,**

**-Emsie**


	6. Minority

_Stepped out of the line_

___Like a sheep runs from the herd_

___Marching out of time_

___To my own beat now_

___The only way I know_

**-Minority, Green Day**_  
><em>

**EPOV**

Tanya and I arrived at the hospital at three in the afternoon. She didn't want to be here, it was lucid in her facial expression. She fucking scowled the whole way to the paediatric ward. I ignored her.

I for one _adored_ the children here. They were so full of life, attentive, innocent, and observant. They always make me smile. I get them to sing along to playful songs and then let them have a try-teaching them basic chords, and encouraging them.

Alice and Jasper couldn't make it today-they had some consultation with a wedding planner. Rosalie and Emmett showed up a little after us and went into the playroom, where the toddlers were. I wandered into the playroom for the older children. Tanya sat in one of the recliners-picking up a magazine that was on one of the tables there. One of them noticed me, a small girl-no older than five years old. She tugged on my jeans to get my full attention. I looked down at her and smiled.

"Hi," I said, smiling "I'm Edward, what's your name sweetie?" I asked

"I'm Claire. My best friend has one of those" she said, pointing to my guitar case.

"Really?" I asked, intrigued "Does your friend play a lot?" I ask, crouching down next to her.

"Oh yeah, she plays all the time for me-hey there she is!" she squeals, pointing at someone behind me. Before I could look around, Claire has disappeared from my side and ran to the person who was apparently behind me.

"Hi Claire!" I hear Bella's voice exclaim quietly.

I turn around to see Bella dropping her guitar case and dropping to her knees to embrace Claire in a tight hug. Claire squeezed her back with excited vigour. The sight was adorable.

"I missed you so much Bella! Last week a clown came in and I asked him to play Paramore for me, but he didn't know who they were!" She exclaimed in mock horror, throwing her tiny arms in the air.

"Well, I promise to play all the paramore songs you want princess" Bella said gently, looking at the girl with pure jubilance.

"Oh!" Claire said excitedly "I have a new friend!" she said

"Really who is it?" Bella asked.

"Edward. He has a guitar too, he's over here" she said, pulling Bella to her feet and dragging her over to me. Bella catches my eye then and winks at me. I smile back at her.

"Edward, this is Bella-she's my best friend" Claire said

"It's a pleasure to meet you Bella" I say, and for Claire's entertainment, I pick up Bella's hand and kiss the back of it.

Claire squeals and laughs at the gesture, Bella smiles at her.

A few of the kids gathered around, all between the ages of five and twelve. Bella went over to where Tanya was sitting to get chairs. She didn't notice her at first, but when she did, she huffed loudly in annoyance-effectively gaining Tanya's attention. Tanya smiled politely at her, and then looked down at her magazine. Bella took the chairs and we sat together.

'_Why the fuck she even bothered to come...' _ I heard her mumble under her breath

We strummed a little to warm up and Bella suggested we play '_Hello, goodbye' _by the Beatles.

We played and sang along, adding a bit of harmony at the chorus. Some of the kids said their parents or grandparents play this song a lot at home, so they knew most of the words and sang along. The thing with these kids is- they are thrilled to get any kind of entertainment, we could be singing some heavy metal shit and they'd be happy.

We played a few more songs and then let some of the older kids play. Claire came over to me, ducked under the guitar and sat on my lap. She then looked up at me and smiled, a fuckin' sweet toothy grin and asked me to show her how to play.

"Your fingers are a bit small sweetie, but we'll try, okay?" I asked her.

She beamed and nodded, turning her full attention to the guitar.

**BPOV**

I couldn't stop smiling. I love children. Especially these children, always so eager to try new things.

I look over at Edward to see Claire in his lap. He's leaning over her shoulder to look down at the strings, and she's mimicking his position, placing her tiny fingers on the strings. When he makes sure they're in the right position he strums lightly. She beams with pride, and turns to face him. He tells her that she's a fast learner and smiles back. She kisses his cheek and demands to be showed more. It was the cutest thing I'd ever seen.

We finished up at five and said goodbye to the kids. Claire hugged Edward and then me. I walked over to Tanya's chair and kicked it harshly. She looked up at me, blinking in surprise.

"We're leaving" I said coldly.

"Oh! Already? I was just coming over to join you" she said sweetly.

I opened my mouth to verbally abuse the shit outta her. But instead, decided to be the bigger person here, and walked away.

Edward smiled at me-all fuckin' apologetic and shit. I gave him the finger and continued on my way to the parking lot.

In the midst of today's fun, I forgot to tell him to follow me to Charlie's. I took out my prehistoric nokia flip up- otherwise known as 'the brick', and sent him a text.

I arrived at Charlie's a few minutes later. I turned off the engine and ran up the porch steps and banged on his front door.

"Don't break the door down Bells" he joked when he opened the door.

"Sorry dad, it's good to see you" I said, stepping inside.

I followed him into the living room and we sat together on the couch, where he passed me a beer.

"You know I have to drive home right?" I joked.

"I'm making an exception, besides, I can't imagine you to be a lightweight" he teased.

I nodded in agreement, and smiled.

"So what brings you over?" he asks.

"Well, you know Edward came over the other day, he should be here any minute" I started.

"How could I forget? That boy is like the son I never had, but what about him has you looking so down?" he asked gently.

"Well he brought a girl with him, as in, a _girlfriend."_

He looked pensive.

"Well, what's she like?" he asked

"Dad she's-"My sentence was abruptly cut off by the doorbell.

"That must be him" dad said, heaving himself off the couch.

"Edward, my boy!" I heard Charlie exclaim.

"Hey Charlie, it's been too long old man" he joked.

"Enough with the old man jokes! I ain't that old! Now who is this lovely lady here?" he asked.

"Ugh!" I huffed and fell back against the couch with my arm tossed across my face.

"Hello Chief Swan. I'm Tanya, it's a pleasure to meet you" she said politely.

"Call me Charlie sweetheart" he said kindly.

I started kicking the couch in frustration.

"Bella?"

Startled, I jumped up on the couch to see Charlie, Tanya and Edward looking at me funny.

"You okay Bells?" Edward asked smirking.

"Fine" I mumbled, blushing.

Tanya dragged Edward over to the loveseat, while Charlie took his place next to me. She placed her claw on his knee. I eyed her hand, she cleared her throat which caused me to snap my head up to meet her gaze. She raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at me. I looked down at my hands.

"So Edward, how's the business going?" Charlie asked, which started a loquacious conversation.

Edward responded, but I wasn't paying any attention. I was watching Edward and Tanya with absolute attention. She was leaning into him, with her hand resting on his knee, gently rubbing it every few seconds. Edward was leaning forward, slightly away from her touch. He looked vexatious.

While I was watching them, I failed to realise that it has already been an hour and we needed to leave. Edward realised this too and stood up.

"Sorry dad, I have to get ready for tonight" I told him.

"Oh, I almost forgot, you're going out with some boy aren't ya?" he asked with distaste.

"Yes Dad" I sighed "I'll come over whenever I can okay? Maybe finish our earlier conversation?" I asked, hugging him.

"Of course hon" he said

I walked out the door and to my car. I stopped and looked up at the porch to see Edward and Charlie talking. Charlie was giving him instructions by the looks of it, and Edward was nodding. They finished up and Edward got into the car with Tanya.

I was back at the Cullen house in a few minutes. I took my bag out and my guitar, and went into the house. Esme told me to use the guest room to get ready. I pulled my dress out of the bag. It was yellow, with a brown belt around it, a black blazer and my black docs. It was weird, and it was me. I applied very little make-up and left my hair to flow down my back.

**EPOV**

"So are you guys fucking in or not?" I asked feeling like Clive Owen.

"I don't know Edward, isn't that very high school of you?" Jasper asked.

"Yeah, I know. But I was gonna do it and then Charlie asked me to keep an eye on her. How could I deny papa Swan?"

They looked at each other, unconvinced.

"Look, I'm not asking you guys to dress up in balaclavas and sneak around like Tom Fuckin' Cruise. All I'm asking you is to stay in the car with me and we'll keep an eye on her."

Nada.

"I'll buy you's pizza" I offered as an incentive.

"I'm in" Emmett said quickly.

Jasper rolled his eyes, but otherwise muttered '_Better be pepperoni...'_

A little while later, I was on my way into the kitchen to get a drink. When I rounded the corner I ran straight into Bella. She bumped into my chest and I grabbed her shoulders to pull her back.

"Sweet crab fish on a platter Edward! You stood on my toe!" She yelped, bouncing around the kitchen, clutching her foot for dear life.

"You're not going out dressed like that" I stated when I saw what she was wearing.

"Why the fuck not?" she asked

"That dress is utterly indecent." I said, pointing.

"What's wrong with it?" she asked quietly-all bravado gone. She suddenly looked very self-conscious.

_Edward you fucktard!_

"Aw, Bella. You look beautiful, but that's the problem- you look too beautiful. Knob-heads gonna be having dirty thoughts all night."

"Knob-head?" she asked, scrunching up her nose and cocking her head to the side.

She's so adorable.

"That's not the point" I say quickly.

"So, you're saying that Demetri will be having inappropriate thoughts about me-that would imply that _you,_ Mr. Cullen, were having inappropriate thoughts about _me_" she smirked, crossing her arms over her chest.

_I will not look at her cleavage_,_ I will not look at her cleavage_.

"I-I don't-"

"Do you have dirty thoughts about me often Edward? Do you think of me when you and Tanya are making-"

"Enough!" I yell, childishly putting my fingers in my ears and walking back into the living room-well, shuffling- it's kinda hard to walk properly with a boner.

**BPOV**

The doorbell rang a little after eight. I was pulling my black docs on when Edward ran to the door, and pulled it open. From my spot on the bottom step I could see Demetri in a tux- tie and all. I suddenly felt underdressed.

"Good evening Demetri" Edward said, making no move to let Demetri in.

"Oh, hi Edward" I heard Demetri say "Is Bella ready to go?"

"I'll go check" and with that, Edward closed the door and turned to face me.

"Bella? Mr. Bond wants' to know if you're almost ready?"

"Yes, but you didn't have to close the door on him. That was very rude." I scolded, opening the door.

"Wow Bella, you look...nice" Demetri said, looking me up and down.

I looked like Jane next to Mr fucking Rochester.

He took my hand and led me to his car- I couldn't tell you what kind of car it was but it was black, sleek and very expensive looking.

"You better have her back before eleven!" I heard Edward yell after us.

I laughed.

"So where are we going?" I asked, once we took off down the highway.

"Well, I know this great restaurant that has amazing food. I was thinking we could go there?" he says, smiling.

Fuck he has a great smile.

"Sounds great"

A half hour later, we pull up in front of a very elaborate looking restaurant. I felt very out of place and we haven't even stepped into the place yet, I'm more of an in and out burger kinda girl.

The valet-yes a fucking valet, took Demetri's keys and we walked in to the reception. Demetri gave the maitre d' his name and he brought us to a table. The inside was even worse than I expected. It was just so plush. Chandeliers dripping in crystals adorned the ceiling. The tables were set with five or six knives and forks each. A violin was playing somewhere in the background, and the people just looked like quintessential snobs.

Not my idea of a good time.

We sat down in our booth and looked at our menu's.

I huffed in frustration. It must have been louder than I thought because several heads turned our way.

"What's wrong?" Demetri asked, obviously not liking the attention.

"The menu is written in Italian! Fuckin' _Italian_! Who do the owners of the restaurant think they area to assume I know Italian? I did Spanish in high school. No me gusta. This is ridiculous, shouldn't they have it translated or something?"

"Bella, calm down" he said "I'll translate it for you" he offered.

He mentioned something about a burger, so I went with that.

**EPOV**

I sat outside the restaurant in my car alone.

Emmett and Jasper ditched me for pizza.

Bella and Knob were sitting at a window seat which made spying a little easier. I couldn't hear them though, and I wasn't waiting for Jasper and Em any longer. So I sent them a text telling them to meet me inside.

Once inside, I asked for a table for three. The waitress appraised my outfit choice with disdain, I shrugged and went to my seat, which-very conveniently- was right behind Bella's. I looked at her over my menu, so she couldn't see me. She looked so out of place, it looked like she knew it too. Bella's more of a Mc. Donald's kinda girl.

I looked down at my menu and decided I better order something...

Why the fuck is the menu in Italian?

**BPOV**

The waitress arrived with our food quickly. She was turning away when I stopped her.

"Um, have you got any fries?" I asked.

"No, miss" she replied politely.

_Aw man._

"Well, hmm, let's see. Have you got ketchup?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes, I'll bring you some now"

"What kinda restaurant doesn't have fries?" I muttered

She came back with the ketchup. I thanked her and then proceeded to remake my burger. I removed all the salad shit and smothered the burger in ketchup-I love my ketchup.

Demetri looked at me in amusement.

I picked up my burger and brought it to my mouth.

"Bella?"

"Yes?" I asked, my burger still at my mouth.

"You're supposed to use your knife and fork" he said politely.

Well fuck me sideways.

"Which ones?" I sighed, looking at the six knives and six forks.

**EPOV**

I looked down at my bowel. I don't know what I ordered but it looked like a bunch of crabs in gravy. I pushed it away, and tried to listen to their conversation. They weren't talking much, just telling each other about themselves.

I saw Em and Jazz at the door. They spotted me and slyly came over-with pizza boxes.

"Give me some of that" I muttered, opening the pizza box.

They sat down and Emmett put a transparent plastic bag on the table, filled with-

"What the fuck is that?" I whisper-yelled at him.

"Oh, this big guy? I saw him in the pet store on the way here" he said happily, holding the bag up to my face.

"Is that an Oscar fish?" I asked in astonishment.

"Yeah, I called him whiskers" he said

"Why whiskers?" I asked dubiously

"Cus, when I first saw him, I thought he was a catfish. So I thought whiskers would be a cool name for a catfish. But then the guy at the store told me he was an Oscar, and, well, the name kinda stuck..." he said.

"He's huge" I said

"Yeah, but listen, we can't stay too long. Apparently they get kinda aggressive; I need to put this guy in a tank"

We continued to eat our pizza, listening to Bella and Knobs conversation. The waitress came to take away my uneaten meal, and Emmett ordered a Knickerbocker glory.

Twenty minutes later, we started to get bored. And I regretted coming at all, and when Emmett's bored he will do _anything_ to entertain himself.

"Hey Jasper, catch!" He said, throwing whiskers in the bag at him.

Jasper caught it quickly, and then freaked out and threw it at me like a hot potatoe. I wasn't expecting it and it went flying over my head.

And then everything happened in slow motion.

Whiskers flew through the air, water jiggling and the bag dripping in condensation. It started to fall, causing my eyes to widen in alarm. But then it landed with a splash. Right into Demetri's plate, soaking him in the process.

"Ah!" he yelped, jumping back.

"What the fuck?" Bella yelled, looking at the fish.

Whiskers flopped around the plate helplessly. Bella took pity on it and picked it up and dropped him into the water jug.

She then turned around and looked at us. Her expression was blank. Her eyes flickered between Jasper, Emmett, me, and Whiskers.

And then she exploded into laughter.

The whole restaurant seemed to freeze and look at her. She was doubled over in giggles, I couldn't help but laugh with her- the whole situation was seriously too funny.

"You absolute asshole!" she giggled pointing at me.

"I was only following Charlie's instructions!" I defended myself.

"What about the fish?" she asked, her laughter dying down.

"That was all Emmett!" I said quickly.

"Of course" she sighed, and then looked over at Demetri, who was wiping the water from his slacks with a napkin.

"So, um...Are you ready to go home?" I asked sheepishly

She looked at Demetri, who nodded and asked for the bill.

We shuffled outside, under the glare of the waiter. And got into the car, Emmett and Jasper got into the back. Bella came out shortly after with Demetri, carrying whiskers in the jug. She said something to him and kissed his cheek before running over to us in the car.

She opened the front door and sat down, pulling her seat belt on.

Once it was on she looked at Whiskers and smiled. She then looked up at us and tried to hold back a smile.

"Got any pizza left?"

**Hope you's liked it :) This took a while to get just right. What are your thoughts on Whiskers? **

**Reviews are better than Edward playing guitar with adorable kids :)**

**Emsie xxx**

I sighed.

"Hey CharlieEdward say


	7. Birthday

**A/N I don't own Twilight.**

_We gonna come together, we gonna celebrate_

_We gonna gather round, like it's your birthday_

_I don't wanna know, just what I'm gonna do_

_I don't care where you're going, _

_I'm coming along with you__  
><em> 

**-Birthday, Kings of Leon**

**BPOV**

"Happy Birthday to you!" Everyone sang as Edward leaned forward and blew out his twenty four birthday candles. We cheered and Alice began to pluck off the candles so we could eat the chocolaty goodness that Carlisle bought in the bakery this morning. And well, as nice as the cake looked, I really couldn't help myself...

"What's that?" I asked, pointing to a spot in the centre of the cake.

"What?" he asked curiously, looking down to inspect the cake. _Idiot._

"That!" I yelled as I pushed the back of his head into the cake. His face smashed into it with a loud _splat_.

Everyone in the room froze for a second before they busted up laughing. I doubled over myself as Edward lifted his face from the chocolate mush, his face was camouflaged in chocolate frosting and cream.

He brought a hand up to his face and wiped the frosting away from his eyes so he could look at me. His eyes held nothing but mischief as he stood up. I started to back away, bumping into everyone along the way. He picked up the cake and stalked toward me, with a grin plastered across his face.

I ran.

I could faintly hear everyone's laughter as I ran out the back door and into the garden. I shrieked in excitement when I looked back and saw Edward chasing me with agile speed. I ran over to the pool area-which was a bad decision on my part, because I was now cornered.

_Shiiiiiiiiiiiit._

"Oh, Bella?" Edward called sweetly.

I turned around slowly and saw him standing just arms length away from me. He smiled devilishly and stalked toward me, like a hunter and its prey. I balked and looked for something, _anything_ to defend myself with, but I came up with nothing.

Edward now stood in front of me with the cake balancing in his right hand, grinning. I smiled back sheepishly and closed my eyes in anticipation for the onslaught of chocolate galore. However, as I waited, I heard a faint chuckle and some giggles, and then suddenly, Edward's body was being shoved into mine harshly, which caused me to stumble backwards. Instinctively, I grabbed Edward's shirt to keep me up, and we both tumbled into the pool.

I surfaced quickly and wiped my eyes to get the chlorine out, when I could see, I saw Edward looking up at someone, glaring. I looked up to see Carlisle with a smug smirk on his face, the rest of the family laughing behind him. I turned to Edward who chuckled also, and I joined in. The cake was squished at the bottom of the pool, which Edward dove down to try and pick up, his attempts were futile however as the cake just slipped through his fingers.

We got out of the pool and I tried in vain not to look at Edwards toned abs through his wet, white t-shirt. I rung my shirt, and drained my hair. When I wasn't paying attention, Edward bent down and picked me up at the knees- tossing me over his shoulder, and running into the house.

"Edward!" I screeched as he ran up the stairs and into the bathroom.

"What do you think you're doing? Put me down, now!" I yelled, in mock anger as he turned and headed into the bathroom.

"Okay, Okay!" he said and put me down inside the shower. He quickly turned on the water, and ducked out just before the water came on.

"Ah!" I yelped as freezing water pelted down my back.

I could hear Edward's laughter fill the bathroom.

"Paybacks a bitch."

**EPOV**

"Can I open my presents now?" I whined jokingly.

I've had a fuckin' awesome birthday so far today-better than the past two birthdays anyway. I woke up and had breakfast in bed-courtesy of mother dearest. Everyone showed up at three, and we had cake-well, I had cake-thanks to Bella, and even though Tanya gave me shit about ruining the shirt she bought me-fun times with Bella are always worth it.

After I gave her an ice-shower, we both had proper showers and changed clothes. Emmett handed me a beer and we sat out back on the wicker benches, as it was a warm evening. This resulted in me whining for my presents.

"Here, open mine and Jaspers first, "Alice said, passing me a heavy box. I pulled the wrapping off and beamed at what was underneath.

"A record player?" I asked in excitement, a grin spreading across my face.

"Yeah, we heard that your other one broke, and you still have a bunch of dusty vinyl's in your room" Jasper said.

"Thanks guys, this is amazing" I said, getting up to hug Alice and punch fists with Jasper.

Emmett tossed me an envelope next, smiling, and placed his arm over Rosalie's shoulder

"You guys didn't get me a gift certificate for a lifetime supply of Viagra did you?" I asked jokingly, but tried to sound serious. Hell knows I didn't need it- Bella was currently wearing tiny shorts and a tank top-very revealing. I kinda came to terms with the fact that I was very attracted to Bella physically-fuck how could I _not_ be?

"Not this time bud" Emmett laughed, probably remembering my seventeenth birthday, when he _did_ get me Viagra. My parent's facial expressions were priceless.

I opened the envelope and emptied its contents on to the small coffee table between us, and began to look over the papers.

"Airline tickets?" I asked in wonder, looking over the tickets, "To LA?"

"We combined our present with Bella's" Rosalie told me happily.

I looked over at Bella inquisitively.

"Why are we going to LA?" I asked dubiously.

She grinned and tossed me another envelope.

I looked at her funny before picking up the sealed envelope in my lap, and ripping it open. I pulled out its contents and read over the information on the two tickets.

"Bella, you sneaky bitch!" I yelled in happiness as I ran over to her and dove on her as she sat in a single chair. The weight of my body caused the chair to fall backwards with the force. Bella giggled as I peppered her face in small kisses.

"How" kiss "did you manage" kiss "to get us'' kiss "Kings of Leon tickets?" I all but shrieked.

"Can't, breath" she wheezed.

I immediately jumped back from her and pulled her up with me, bringing her into a bone-crushing hug.

"It wasn't easy" she started "But Charlie knows a guy, whose wife's cousin works as an executive in the venue-"

"Bella, this is so fucking amazing" I said, pulling back to look at her. Her eyes were shining with happiness, as they glinted in the sunlight.

"Thank you." I said with all the sincerity I could muster.

"You're very welcome" she said, beaming up at me.

"When are the airline tickets booked for?"

"The twelfth of July. But the concert is on the thirteenth, so we have a day to wander Hollywood" she said.

It suddenly dawned on me that I had other obligations here.

"What's wrong?" Bella said, noticing my sudden distress.

"Tanya" I stated.

"Can't she just stay her with the rest of them for three days?" she huffed, crossing her arms.

"I don't know, she might want to go home for a week or two"

"Yeah, well she can go fuck herself for all I care. There is no-fucking-way I'm missing this concert Edward, and neither are you!" she said, poking my chest angrily for emphasis

"Bella" I stated "There's _no-fucking-way_ I'm missing this concert either." I said with austere.

"Good" she smirked.

I hugged her one more time before we walked back over to the table, and sat back with the others. I took my seat next to Tanya who scooted away from me with a disgruntled expression.

"So Edward, we were thinking of going to this new club that just opened up in Seattle. What do you think?" Rosalie said.

"Sounds good" I told her. Clubs or any sort of disco that played shitty mainstream music, are not really my scene- but I could tell she and Alice were excited to go, especially when they took off upstairs to get ready the second I confirmed tonight's activities. They pulled Bella up with them and Bella-bless her heart-asked Tanya to join them.

After they left, I sat back in my chair and sighed.

Life was _gooooood._

**BPOV**

"So how long have you and Eddie known each other?" she asked.

"We've known each other since we were two years old" I said with nostalgia.

"And you guys always stayed friends?" she asked.

_Does the Pope wear a funny hat?_

"I mean," she continued "you guys never dated or anything?"

I told her no.

"Why?" she asked.

She was getting on my nerves with her constant questions but I answered her honestly.

"I've never seen him as more than a friend" _Until one day he comes home, looking sexy as fuck, and I wanna rip his clothes off, and tie him up and have my wicked, kinky way with him._

"Hmm…" She said pensively, "interesting"

Alice and Rosalie- the little fucktards- thought it would be a good bonding experience if Tanya and I got ready together.

_Mentally incapacitated bitches._

I slipped into the bathroom to put on my outfit- my extra tight skinny jeans that made my ass look awesomboso. A cream flowing tank top, black suede peep-toe heels, and a short sleeved blazer.

I left my hair down, but put enough products in it to give me that sexy _just out of bed _look. I applied a little make-up, and I was ready within twenty minutes.

I stepped out of the bathroom and ran smack into Tanya; I stumbled backwards and caught my heel in the carpet, causing me to fall back on my ass.

"Oh my gosh Bella!" Tanya yelled "Sorry" she mumbled, stepping over me and into the bathroom.

_Thanks for helping me you stupid, nasty, lazy, faggot woman._

I pushed myself up off the floor just in time to catch a glimpse of what she was wearing before she closes the door. However she wasn't _dressed, _she was in underwear-no not underwear-_lingerie_. A black, lace bodice covered her torso, with leather straps criss-crossed up the front. Her panties were also lace, with two flimsy pieces of ribbon holding it together at her hips-garters were hooked onto them.

"Do you like it?" she asked smugly when she caught me looking. "It's Eddie's birthday gift from me." She smiled devilishly, like she wanted it to have a bad effect on me.

"It's um, lovely" I said, through gritted teeth, and ran from the room as quickly as I could in heels. As I walked down the stairs, I felt irrational anger build up inside of me. She's his girlfriend-of course they have sex! I just wish Tanya didn't put that image into my head. I make a promise to myself to try and find a distraction tonight at the club; find a guy who will take my mind off Tanya and Edward.

I walked over to the table that Emmett, Jasper and Edward were still sitting at, talking. Emmett noticed me fist and wolf-whistled, attracting the others attention. Jazz smirked at me and said "Nice one Bell's". I mock curtsied and twirled for the full effect. The whole time Edward just _stared_. I looked down at my outfit to check nothing was out of place. But then he smiled at me and patted the empty seat next to him. I sat down and he brought his arm around to rest on my shoulder.

"You look beautiful Bella" he whispered into my ear.

"Thanks" I muttered, blushing a little at the compliment.

I joined in on their conversation. Before I came, they were debating the best guitarist. Jasper favored Santana, Emmett preferred Jimi Hendrix, and Edward advocated Slash. They argued for a few minutes, comparing awards and other achievements of the guitarists while I watched in amusement.

"So Bella, take your pick" Emmett said enthusiastically.

I contemplated for a few moments.

"Jimmy Page" I stated.

A collective groan came from all three as I stated my answer, raising another argument. I joined them this time, offering my opinion now and then. Alice and Rosalie came down a few minutes later. Alice was wearing a cute white lace shirt tucked into a tight navy skirt, while Rosalie wore a black silk wrap dress that cut off just above her knee.

"Where's Tanya?" Edward asked beside me.

I cringed inwardly as I remembered what she was wearing the last time I'd seen her.

"We knocked on the way down and she said she'd be ready shortly" Alice said, sitting beside Jasper.

Ten minutes later a throat cleared at the back door, and Tanya stepped out. I could literally hear Edwards jaw drop beside me.

She looked _gorgeous_. Like fuckin' Aphrodite. The kind of gorgeous you only see on the airbrushed pages of _vogue_. She wore a tight fitted cocktail dress, a beautiful green color, in silk, wrapped up her slender figure perfectly and tied around her neck. She wore black stilettos with some green rhinestones placed in intricate designs along the toe. She had her hair up, with some curls falling down the front.

I looked down at my outfit choice and my self esteem hit rock bottom.

Edward got up beside me and looked at her like he wanted to devour her.

"You look absolutely gorgeous babe" he said, kissing her cheek affectionately, she looked pleased by his response.

"Thanks baby" she said sweetly, and wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.

I suddenly remembered what she was wearing under the dress.

"Can we go?" I asked tersely.

"Yeah, sure" Emmett said quickly, noticing my pained expression.

Tanya and Edward went in the Volvo while the rest of us took Emmett's jeep. I felt like a fifth wheel the whole way there.

When we arrived, the bouncer let us in quickly-Jasper knew a guy- and we found a booth at the back near the bar. Rosalie quickly ordered a round of shots and passed me one first with a look in her eye that said '_you'll need this'_ and then directed her line of sight behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see Edward and Tanya grinding against each other on the dance floor. Tanya spun around to face him and started to kiss him-he responded quickly and groped her ass.

I downed my shot. Then Edwards. Then Tanya's.

"Whoa, slow down there Bell's" Jasper said.

I ignored his comment and took his shot from him and downed that too.

I promptly looked at the dance floor and spotted them. They were still sucking face with enjoyable vigor. I ordered two appletini's.

After my drink I watched them again-torturing myself. I suddenly felt this uncontrollable rage, anger and jealousy bubble up inside me, as they kissed. I was about to stand, when someone tapped my shoulder.

"Demetri, hi" I slurred slightly; maybe those shots weren't such a good idea.

"Hey Bella" he smiled "what you up to?" he asked, gesturing to the multiple empty shot glasses.

"Celebrating the day Edward came out of the cocoon" I mumbled.

"By yourself?" he asked.

I pointed to the three couples on the dance floor as an explanation.

"Ah, seventh wheel?" he asked knowingly.

I nodded grumpily.

"Well Ms. Swan, I would be honored if you'd dance with me" he said.

"Sure" I said, remembering the promise I made myself this evening.

I stumbled onto the dance floor-the drinks were slowly taking their tole on me. Some ridiculous song about some skank being a 'sexy bitch' came on.

Demetri grabbed my waist and we danced with the large crowd. My vision was getting slightly blurry as the lights bounced around me. I was severely intoxicated and really couldn't bring myself to care.

"You know what better lyrics would be?" I wondered aloud.

Apparently when I'm drunk enough I like to voice my opinions

"What?" he yelled over the blaring music.

"Instead of 'damn who's a sexy bitch' it should be 'dam, who's a lovely beaver'" I said "Do you get it? _Dam_? _Beaver_?" I slurred, hoping he understood my theory.

"Sure Bella, whatever you think" he said and then he closed the distance between us and pressed his lips to mine. I started to kiss him back-hesitantly at first, but then I relaxed and opened my mouth, granting his tongue entrance.

There was a little voice at the back of my head telling me to be careful or I might do something I'll regret. The alcohol in my system told the voice to fuck off.

**EPOV**

"Babe, let's go sit for a little bit, okay?" I asked Tanya. I was exhausted and wanted a drink, but most importantly-I wanted to check on Bella. I haven't seen her in a while, and I felt kinda bad leaving her at the table like that, but when I looked over again she was gone.

Tanya nodded and took my hand, pulling me through the grinding, sweaty bodies toward our table. The strobe lights were starting to give me a headache, as the drunken bodies pushed together, and Tanya was staring to get very _touchy-feely_-I'd like to leave as soon as we can.

When we finally made it to the table, there was a sight I never expected to see.

Bella and Knob.

Bella was draped across his lap as they made out vigorously. He had one hand running up and down her thigh, and the other was laced through her hair-holding her to him, while her hands were running though his hair furiously. Things seemed to be getting very hot n' heavy quickly, and that's when I noticed the dozen empty shot and martini glasses.

I strode over to them quickly and cleared my throat right in Bella's ear. I pulled back and she jerked her face away from my Demetri's rapidly, she looked up at me with wide, childlike eyes. Her hair was completely disheveled and her clothes were ruffled, she looked flushed as she gazed up at me drunkenly, a small smirk playing on her swollen lips.

"Oops" she giggled.

I felt absolutely livid as I looked at Demetri-who looked at me smugly, conspicuously rubbing her thigh in exaggerated strokes. _How dare he take advantage of her like that? If I came any later, god knows what they would've been up to._

Without thinking about it-I grabbed Bella's arm and pulled her out of her seat-letting go of Tanya's hand. I picked Bella up bridal style and strode quickly towards the exit, muttering to Tanya that I was leaving and she could catch a ride with the others-she seemed happy enough and said she would tell the others what had happened.

Bella didn't complain as I carried her-she closed her eyes and snuggled into my chest. When I got her to the car and buckled her in I took a second to just look at her. She looked so innocent when she was sleeping-like a child wearing her mother's make-up and heels. It was different when she was awake-she was confident and coy-a little vixen, but laying in my backseat now, her eyes shut and drooling slightly-she looked credulous. I wanted to be angry with her, for letting her get intoxicated like that and being reckless-but I couldn't bring myself to find my anger from earlier.

When we got back to my parents house, all the lights were off as I quietly carried her up the stairs and into the guest room. I lay her down on the bed, and she opened her eyes. Realizing where she was-she began to unbutton her jeans-she struggled for a second-seemingly not being able to find the button in her drunken haze.

"Edward, help" she mumbled tiredly.

I tugged on the jeans and slid them down her slender legs. Once they were off, she pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around herself. I pulled the blanket up around her and kissed her forehead. She looked up at me and mumbled a 'thank you' before closing her eyes and snuggling into the blanket. I smiled at her and turned to leave. As I pulled the door closed behind me she called me back

"Edward?" she called lazily.

"Yes?" I asked, poking my head in the doorway.

"You're a lovely beaver" she said, and then passed out.

**A/N Thanks for reading, I really try to get these up asap, but my life is kinda a busy one so I don't really have a lot of time to sit down and type :(**

**I want to say a big thank you to everyone who reviewed, added favorite story, fav author or alerts, it's truly appreciated and it's heartwarming to see that you guys enjoy this story as much as I do :)**

**I really appreciate the advice on where you guys think this story should go-I don't have any plan whatsoever, so I really want to know what YOU guys think should happen in the near future for these two amigo's :)**

**BTW I had to change my name due to privacy issues so I'm now referred to as Cosmic Monster- a name thoroughly inspired by both Paramore and Florence and the machine: L**

**Thanks again.**

**Cosmic Monster.**


	8. Do you wanna touch me

_Every girl and boy_

_Needs a little joy_

_All you do is sit and stare_

_Beggin' on my knees_

_Baby, won't you please_

_Run your fingers through my hair_

**-Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Do you wanna touch me?**

**BPOV**

_Fuck ow, my head huuurts!_

I squinted my eyes open, only to shut them again quickly as the harsh sunlight invaded my irises. I felt like someone hit me over the head with a sledge hammer, and then a prize-fighter punched me in the gut.

I managed to open my eyes fully, pulled the sheets off my body, and looked down at my bare legs. I vaguely remember Edward taking me to bed and helping me undress, but the rest of the night was blurry. I remember Tanya and Edward dancing and then lots and _lots_ of alcohol was consumed. I remember making out with Demetri for a majority of the night- he had nice lips.

I looked at the clock and the red digits informed me that it was only half past eight in the morning. I groaned in dissatisfaction and rolled over, pulling the blankets back up my body and snuggling into the fluffy pillow. Snippets of last night's events were slowly but surely coming back to me-I remember being alone at the table for a while and Demetri showing up, something about a cocoon, and then dancing and strobe lights and...Beavers? Making out with Demetri was the most dominant memory-he really did have nice lips; things were getting heated when Edward showed up and he took me home.

I don't know what caused it-but suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my abdomen and I lunged out of the bed and tore down to the bathroom and reached my destination-the toilet-just in time, before puking my guts out into the porcelain bowl.

I felt a presence behind me when I was finished and my throat burned from the acid. I turned around on my spot on the cool tiled floor and saw Edward standing in the doorway in his pyjamas.

"Hi" my voice was scratchy.

"Hi" he replied vaguely.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments and I was starting to get cold considering I was still sitting on the cold floor in nothing but the white tank I was wearing last night and a pair or black cotton panties. Edward's look finally turned from nonchalant to disappointment as he broke the silence.

"What the fuck were you thinking Bella?"

Okay, that was the _last_ thing I expected him to say.

"What do you mean?" I asked, perplexed.

He looked at me for a second to see if I was serious-I was-and frowned.

"What were you thinking, drinking that much alcohol unnecessarily and then make a show of yourself by making out with Demetri?" he said angrily.

I felt my blood boil at his words, I wanted to slap him.

"I was _thinking_ that I was bored stupid watching all my friends dance with their partners while I sat there with nothing to do but watch on like a seventh wheel. I was _thinking_ that I was lonely! And I was _thinking_ that instead of wallowing in my own self pity I would take matters into my own hands and have some fun, considering no one else would!" I fumed.

"So what? Acting like a _slut_ was _fun_?" he snapped.

I was taken aback by his harsh words but quickly composed my shocked expression.

"Well, I was just taking tips from your girlfriend!" I yelled "Oh, and by the way, did you enjoy your birthday present?" I sneered.

"Don't you dare bring Tanya into this conversation; it has nothing to do with her!" I knew he was right but I couldn't help myself.

"Well even if it doesn't, why do you care who I make out with? Huh? Why would you care if I went home with him and fucked him? It's none of your fucking business! I can take care of myself" I snarled.

"That's bullshit Bella-of course it's my business, and you know it! You're my best friend and I love you! But you have to be more responsible! You say that you can take care of yourself, but jeez Bella, you can't! Because guess what; _I'm_ the one that went looking for you, _I'm_ the one who brought you home and _I'm_ the one who put you to bed safely." He vented.

_Shit he looks hot when he's angry._

"Now I'm not saying I'm responsible or anything-I think we both know _that_, but last night got me thinking and I think we both just need to _grow up._" He sighed.

Silence followed. Honestly I didn't _know_ what to say, yeah I suppose what I did was irresponsible, but I would have never done it had he not of been there-I trusted him to watch out for me. I shouldn't be so dependent on him though. The silence lingered for a few more seconds before I broke it.

"That's easier said than done" I mumbled, defeated.

"I know" he sighed and the smiled slightly."We'll do it together"

I smiled at him sheepishly.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you and worried you" I said softly, looking into his eyes, they were happy but apologetic.

"I am too, and you're _not_ a slut" he confirmed, grinning now.

"That's what you think" I joked.

He smirked and walked over to me with outstretched arms. I stood and he embraced me in a tight hug. I sighed and wrapped my arms around his waist, burying my face in his chest; he rested his chin on my head.

"Oh, and Bella?" he asked, after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah?" I mumbled into his chest.

"Why am I a lovely beaver?"

I just laughed at him-because I really had no idea-and went to brush my teeth.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

The rest of the week went by quickly. It rained the whole week, so we couldn't do much. I spent the week in my apartment catching up and getting ahead on my workload on articles for the paper. Thursday however-the sun decided to make an appearance, so after a phone call from Edward demanding me to get my ass over there A.S.A.P and bring a swimsuit to go swimming in his parent's pool.

I arrived at the same time as Alice and Jasper, Emmett and Rose were already messing about in the pool when we got there. Tanya was lounging on one of the sun beds while Edward was setting up a barbeque.

"What do you think you're doing mister?" I asked in a motherly tone.

"Oh, hi bells. Em...what's it look like I'm doing?" he asked, gesturing to the unopened pack of burgers.

I sighed" Obviously, I can see what you're doing, what I meant was; why the fuck are you doing a barbeque? You burn toast for Christ's sake!" I exclaimed.

"Ssh! It's a man thing, okay? Guys are meant to do the barbeque, it's just a thing." He said quickly.

"Okaaaay, but don't come crying to me when they're charred." I warned him playfully.

"Har har" he said sarcastically.

I went over to one of the empty loungers and pulled my shirt over my head. I caught Edward staring at my chest with his mouth open-with great satisfaction; I purposely wiggled my hips out of my jeans and bent over to pull them off my feet. I'll admit, I enjoyed his attention a little _too_ much- I was gradually having stronger feeling for him-as in _more_ than friendship. I can't count how many times I have imagined kissing him, running my fingers through his silky hair and crushing my chest to his defined abs. I wasn't sure what you would call it really- friends with benefits perhaps?

Now _there's_ an idea.

I shook my head to rid of the thought and wandered over to the pool where the others were playing chicken. Rosalie and Alice were squealing as they pushed and shoved at each other-while Emmett and Jasper struggled to hold onto their girlfriends.

I sat at the side and watched on, dipping my feet into the pool and stretching back. Edward came over and sat beside me a few minutes later. He was in his swim trunks now, and was wearing his ray-bans, his hair dishevelled and his chest sweaty.

_I wanted to lick it._

"Do you wanna play?" he asked, nodding toward the others.

"Sure" I quickly agreed eager to get into the pool.

_And to have a reason to get Edward between my legs._

I'm such a perv!

"So look who decided to join us" Emmett smiled.

"I had no partner" I told him.

"Okay enough, let's play!" Jasper said.

Edward smiled and ducked down so I could climb on. I laughed and grasped his shoulders and threw my leg over his shoulder and then the other one.

"Ready?" he asked

"Yup!" I told him.

He stood up then and I wobbled on his shoulders. I clutched his head and he stumbled a bit.

"Eh, Bella, it would be nice if I could see" he laughed.

"Oops" I giggled as I realised that my hands were covering his eyes. Once Edward was standing his hands grasped my thighs and I shuddered. Goosebumps raised on my skin, as a lovely tingling sensation shot through me.

"One, two, three, GO!" Jasper yelled.

It was really fun. Between Alice and I, we managed to get Rosalie and Emmett down after a few minutes, Rosalie complained about getting her hair wet and Emmett whined about us cheating. Edward and Jasper started shoving eachother as Alice and I struggle to take eachother down-which was nearly impossible as we were laughing so hard. Jasper was stumbling and I nearly had Alice all the way off his shoulders when Emmett yelled.

"Edward! The burgers!"

Edward was quickly in motion; he waded over toward the steps as quickly as he could with me still on his shoulders. He somehow managed to climb out of the pool and run over to the loungers where Tanya was reading a magazine. He dumped me next to her and she screeched as splashes of water hit her legs, and continued over to the burgers-which he must have forgotten about.

I giggled uncontrollably as he waved the smoke out of his way to check the burgers. He huffed in annoyance and picked up one with skewers and held it up for inspection. Unsatisfied with the charred lump, he threw it back and huffed in annoyance and frowned. Fortunately, Jasper took pity on him and started to make a new batch-good thing too, because I wouldn't be of any help in my current state of uncontrollable laughter.

Luckily, Jaspers burgers were edible and we all had one, we sat at the table on the patio and chatted idly. Alice was planning on getting her wedding dress soon, and was planning on myself and Rose to go with her, she kindly invited Tanya who unfortunately accepted the invite with a smirk directed at me. She knew she was getting to me and I didn't like it.

"Eddie?" Tanya asked suddenly, looking at her phone.

"Yeah?" he mumbled-his mouth full of burger.

"Demetri is in the area and was wondering if he could stop by" she told him

"How do you know?" he asked suspiciously.

"I was texting him, silly!" she exclaimed.

"Tell him to come over" I told her, she nodded and began typing a reply.

Edward glared at me.

"What? I haven't seen him since your birthday, and he is a really nice guy, despite what you think of him" I told him.

He narrowed his eyes at me, but nodded in acceptance.

The sun was setting when Demetri arrived, and the others were getting into the Jacuzzi with some wine-which I decided to avoid-considering the possible outcome. I greeted him at the door and got Edward to give him a pair of swim trunks so he could join us in the Jacuzzi. Edward did it with great reluctance and said something about burning them after so he doesn't get any STD's.

"Hey, Bella?" Demetri asked as we were walking outside to join the others.

"Yes?"

"I'm really sorry about last week in the club" he said sincerely "I was out of line, and drunk and you deserve better than that" he said sheepishly.

"Demetri, it's fine. I was really drunk too, so it was also my fault" I told him "Let's just forget about it, deal?"

"Deal, but just for the record-you're a really good kisser" he said, smirking.

"You too," I mumbled, blushing.

We joined the others outside and got into the warm bubbling tub. A small plastic table was raised on a pole up the centre of the tub, and on it was the empty wine bottle, lying horizontally.

"We're playing spin the bottle" Alice informed us.

_Greeeeat._

"Why?" I asked

"Because we're drunk enough to go through with it" she slurred, leaning into Jasper who had a dazed look in his eye. Emmett and Rose looked similar, as did Tanya. Edward didn't appear to have drunk anything, he looked sober.

"Is this okay with you?" I asked Demetri. I was fine with the game-we were all pretty close so it wouldn't be embarrassing-but I didn't want him to feel uncomfortable.

"It's fine with me" he said.

"Okay, so the rules are; No incest, tongue is a must, and it has to be for a minimum if thirty seconds" Alice said.

We nodded in agreement and Rosalie offered to go first. She spun the wine bottle and it landed on Alice. They didn't mention any rules about same sex kissing. We froze for a second to see what they would do. Alice hesitated for only a second before crawling over Emmett and sitting beside Rose. They pressed their lips together quickly. I expected this somewhat-it wasn't really _that_ big of a deal. However the guys seemed to think differently as they gazed at them in awe.

"Time!" I yelled, snapping them out of it. Rosalie and Alice broke away- complimenting each other's kissing skills, as Emmett cheered for an encore.

It was Tanya's turn next, she spun it and it landed on Demetri. No one really knew what to say, so we began laughing and wolf whistling to release the awkward silence. I'll admit-when Tanya started to kiss him, I once again felt that same anger I feel when she kisses Edward in front of me. I was jealous, _again_.

I looked over at Edward, who was looking at me. I smiled at him and he smiled back-seemingly unfazed by his girlfriend making out with another guy.

"Time!" Rosalie called.

Tanya pulled away, and they both looked a little flushed. It was Jaspers turn next.

He spun it quickly and it landed on me. He looked at me sheepishly and I scooted over to him. Everyone started cheering and whistling. Alice gave me the _'I'm watching you'_ look. Jasper smirked at me, I smiled back and leaned in.

He pressed his lips to mine softly at first and then after a few seconds, we both opened our mouths and let our tongues explore each other's mouth. It wasn't awkward or uncomfortable. Jasper was very gentle and had a calming presence.

"Time!" Edward yelled suddenly, grabbing my arm and pulling me back to my seat. Jasper laughed and winked at me, while everyone else cheered, apart from Edward who looked kinda sullen.

"You okay?" I asked quietly.

"Fine" he said.

It was Emmett's turn next-he got Alice. Watching them kiss was one of the weirdest things I have ever seen in my life-it just looked _unnatural, _what with her being so tiny and him being so _big._ I caught Jasper glaring at Emmett's back a few times, and he yelled 'Time!' just under the thirty second mark. He yanked Alice back to him when they pulled away. Just like what Edward had done with me.

Now it was Edward's turn.

He pushed the bottle absentmindedly. Everyone _oohed_ and squealed as it began to slow down. It was just about to stop at Tanya, who was sitting between myself and Edward, until Rosalie kicked the tables pole inconspicuously. I seemed to be the only person to notice. And then the bottle landed on me.

I looked over at Edward and blushed-he looked back at me shyly.

Ever since Edward came home I have been imagining what it would be like to kiss his perfect lips, for just a second, it seemed that it was the same for Edward as he lifted his hand and playfully beckoned me over with his index finger. A smirk present on his face.

I rushed over to him as quickly as I could, probably giving Tanya a bruise as I clambered over her lap to get to him.

"Why Bella, if I didn't know any better-I'd say that you are looking forward to this kiss" he joked.

_You have no idea._

"I could say the same about you" I replied "Edward Cullen, I'm about to rock your world" I joked as I straddled his lap.

His eyed widened at my bold move and everyone chuckled in response.

"Go!" Alice yelled.

And then I pressed my lips to his.

As soon as our lips connected I felt like my whole body was on fire, from the wonderful sensation of Edwards lips moving against my own. You know in those really sappy romance novels, where the narrator talks about fireworks going off when they kiss their prince charming?

I felt like a firework factory just caught fire. That's what it's like kissing Edward.

His lips parted and he ran his tongue along my bottom lip, I granted him entrance-opening my mouth, and plunging my tongue into his. He sighed into my mouth and his warm breath filled my senses. My fingers had a mind of their own as they trailed up his neck and laced into his hair. His hands wrapped around my back and pulled me to him, so our wet chests were pressed together. I felt him shudder under me as my bikini clad breasts pressed against him. I felt myself tingle as I kissed him with enjoyable vigour.

**EPOV**

There are no words.

No words to describe how fucking amazing it is to kiss Bella; astounding, staggering, titillating? No, it was much better. I was enjoying this _way_ too much-and I could tell Bella was too. I tried to hold back a moan of ecstasy as she grinded her hips onto my now hard cock. Her scantily clad breasts pressed against my chest in a tantalizing way.

I think someone said '_Time'_, but I really couldn't care less. This was too good. Our tongues danced together-exploring the other's mouth with vitality. There was undeniable electricity between us.

"Edward!" Tanya suddenly screeched in my ear.

Bella jerked away from me and blushed profusely, with a mask of shock covering her face. I glanced around and noticed everyone was looking at us with their mouths hanging open in surprise. I looked at Bella again, who was pale as a ghost and looked abashed. She touched her swollen lips and looked at me with wide questioning eyes. I stared back at her-still not really comprehending the situation. Millions of questions ran through my head. What did this mean? Why did I enjoy it so much? How come kissing Tanya never felt like that? Did I want to do it again? Most definitely. Did I want to risk our friendship doing it again? No thank you.

Bella moved from my lap and sat next to me quietly, she caught Rosalie's eye, who nodded once and stood up, pulling Emmett with her.

"Well. This was fun, but I gotta be in work early tomorrow, and we have to catch a cab" she said, getting out.

"We should leave too, it's getting kinda late." Jasper said, pulling a very intoxicated Alice out of the pool.

Bella pulled herself out and wrapped a towel around herself. I got out after her and Tanya and Demetri followed suit. She wouldn't look at me. She dried off quickly and went inside to get changed. When she emerged, the others had already left in a cab. No one said anything to me as they left-they all just looked at me funny and said goodbye. Tanya wasn't talking to me and Demetri left straight after the others. Bella grabbed her bag and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked her, grabbing her arm.

"I'm going home" she said, still not looking at me.

"Bell's, it's late. I don't think it would be safe to drive to Seattle now. Just stay here the night and you can leave tomorrow morning." I pleaded with her.

She contemplated for a moment before nodding and heading up the stairs.

"Hey! Wait," I called after her, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to me.

"Look, I don't want things to be awkward with us now, because of that kiss-which, I'll admit-was pretty amazing, and I'm sure you'll agree" she nodded "I don't want that to affect our friendship in the slightest. You'll always be my best friend and I just don't want it to cause any strain" I told her, she finally looked up at me and nodded in agreement.

"Let's just forget about it okay?" she said "Beside's, I'm sure Tanya is pretty pissed right now, you better go check on her" she said with a small smile.

I really couldn't give a fuck about Tanya right now.

"Yeah, I should. Goodnight Bella" I said softly and kissed her cheek.

"Goodnight" she said and went upstairs, while I sat back on the sofa and re-evaluated life as I know it.

**A/N **

**I know this is really long-BUT IT'S IMPORTANT!**

**And there we go, they finally kissed and somewhat gave into their feelings :) **

**So I was looking over the stats for this fic and was seriously amazed. I never realised just how many people are following this fic, I got over 600 hits for the last chapter, I also received a tonne of emails from people adding fav author, story, alerts etc. I'm thrilled that you guys are enjoying these two amigos and their story as much as I am.**

**I was really hoping to get to 100 reviews for this chapter, we're on 86 at the moment and I had over 500 readers for the last chapter, so if only 14 of you wonderful readers could leave SOMETHING, anything-even a smiley face or sad face will do-I would be so grateful :)**

**So thank you to those who have already been leaving reviews, I really appreciate it :)**

**Oh! And I am VERY aware that Gary Glitter wrote and performed 'Do you wanna touch me' first-but honestly that dude freaks me out-if you know anything about him-you'll understand why, and well, I'm a bit of a Joan Jett fan :)**

**-Cosmic Monster. **


	9. Friends

**A/N I don't own Twilight**

_I need love_

_Cause only love is true_

_I need every waking hour with you_

_And my friends cause they are so beautiful_

_Yeah my friends they are so beautiful_

_They're my friends_

**-Friends, Band of Skulls**

**BPOV**

"I'M GETTING MARRIED TODAY!"

I heard her lithe footsteps get closer quickly, the bed dipped beside me, and then she started bouncing.

"Ungh" I grunted and rolled over in the bed, burying my head under my wonderfully squishy pillow.

"Not today Alice" I mumbled.

"I don't think so Bella, if I have to get up at this ungodly hour, then so do you" Rosalie stated sternly from the doorway, as Alice continued bouncing, letting out the occasional squeak.

I begrudgingly rolled out of the bed and peeled my eyes open. Alice was still bouncing on the bed like a deranged tigger. Rosalie giggled at her from the doorway, while I held my head and willed my growing headache to go away.

"Did you take your Ritalin this morning Alice?" I asked her.

"Bella! Don't be a buzz kill" she moaned, plopping onto the bed and sighing.

"Sorry Alice, I just have a really bad hangover from last night" I said apologetically, I didn't want to be a buzz kill on her wedding day.

"It's okay, I guess my decision to have a bachelorette party the night before my wedding was a pretty bad idea, considering you two can't handle your alcohol" she said teasingly, pointing at myself and Rosalie.

"I can hold my alcohol-"Rosalie started.

"Okay, okay!" Alice said, holding a hand up to her "The hairdresser and make-up artists should be here in a few minutes, now go take showers" she instructed, pointing to the bathroom

I saluted her and headed for the hotel bathroom. Alice wanted only the best for her wedding guests-making sure to book a five star hotel in Seattle to host the wedding reception. There was a quaint church only ten minutes down the road where the ceremony would take place.

I showered, and dried off quickly. When I stepped into the main living area of the presidential suite, there were at least a dozen people running around with hairdryers, and foundation brushes.

"Oh Bella! Come on, this is Irina and she's gonna fix you up" Alice said, pulling me over to a chair, beside hers and Rosalie's. I sat down obediently and waited patiently as Irina started with my hair. I felt like purring as she hefted, twisted and combed through my hair, scratching my scalp slightly.

"So Bella, what's the deal with you and Edward?" Rosalie asked from beside Alice, as she flipped through a magazine.

"What deal?" I asked, feigning nonchalance.

"Quit the bullshit Bella, we all know there is some major chemistry between the two of you. Hell the sexual tension coming from the two of you is sickening, you should just fuck eachother already" She said coolly.

"Rose…" I sighed in annoyance "It's not that simple" I huffed.

"Well it should be, you too are hornier than Tommy-lee and Pamela Anderson" Alice added.

"He has a girlfriend" I said. "And, we probably wouldn't work as a couple" I added.

"Who he doesn't care about! Bella, you too have been friends forever! There is no reason why you too wouldn't work as a couple, besides, you know what they say-best friends, make the best lovers" Alice said knowingly, as a make-up artist started to apply some blush.

"And you both seemed to enjoy that kiss playing spin the bottle" Rosalie added "I saw you grinding onto him" she smirked.

"Well I know I did" I sighed "honestly guys, I really like Edward, I mean, he's my best friend, we have tones in common-he annoys the shit out of me sometimes with his immature behavior, but that only adds to the things I love about him. I'm just afraid that if I try anything, he won't feel the same way and I'll risk our friendship" I said solemnly.

"You never know unless you try" Rosalie offered, with a small apologetic smile.

I smiled.

"I'll think about it"

Over the past couple of weeks since spin the bottle, I did a lot of thinking. I thought about Edward, and how he responded to the kiss-he seemed to like it, considering I could feel his boner, but for all I know-he could have gotten like that because I was grinding onto him and my breasts were pushed against him-a typical male reaction. It may have had nothing to do with the fact that it was _me_ doing those things to him.

I also came to the realization that I really liked Edward- as in _like_ like. I don't know if I'd be ready for a relationship or anything just yet-but I certainly wouldn't mind trying. Edward I just _fit_ together, we worked well together. He's the yin to my yang, the Clyde to my Bonnie, the peanut butter to my jelly.

I came to this conclusion while I watching him swim lengths up and down his parents pool-ogling his abs, I was imagining what I would do to him, had I the opportunity to get him into bed with me, when I realized-why not? Why couldn't I get him into bed with me, or better-start a relationship? I've known him since I was a toddler, we have everything in common, and there is some very obvious sexual tension between us-so he obviously likes me _physically_. It would make perfect sense to start a relationship. But my qualms about risking our friendship made me shoot down the thought, and I went back to imagining.

When my hair was in a gorgeous up do and my make-up was finished-I put on my bridesmaid dress. It was a beautiful floor length, halter, lavender chiffon maxi dress. It fit my body perfectly-and Rose too, although Rose was the maid of honor, considering Jasper is her brother.

When I re-entered the main living area, I met Rosalie who was also in her dress, and we gushed over each other's make-up and how well our dresses were fitted. We abruptly stopped talking when Alice emerged from her bedroom in her wedding gown-Vera Wang, no less. She beamed as she walked over to us and twirled- her tiered chiffon skirt flowing with her.

"How do I look?" she asked excitedly.

"You look beautiful Alice" I told her honestly, sniffling- beautiful or not, she'd kill me if I smudged my make-up.

"Like a princess" Rosalie added, also holding back tears.

"Aw, thanks guys" Alice mumbled and then walked over to us and threw her arms around the both of us. We hugged her back-being careful not to pull on the chiffon bodice.

"I think I'm going to cry" she laughed, wiping under her eyes "It's just, you guys have always been there for me and now that I'm getting married-it's just insane!" she exclaimed, sniffling.

"We'll always be there for you Ally, we're best friends. And Jasper is one lucky bastard to marry someone as amazing and talented and smart and funny as you" Rosalie told her, smiling.

"Thanks Rose" she sighed and then turned to grab her bouquet "Let's do this!" she exclaimed and marched toward the door, a parade of make-up artists and hairdressers following her hurriedly to make sure she looks perfect.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

"Now Bella remember-"

"I know, I know. Don't fall, smile, and stand beside Rosalie" I interrupted her before she could tell me what to do-again.

"Good girl, now go! You're up!" Alice told me.

"I love you Ally" I told her before starting my walk down the aisle.

"I love you too!"

It wasn't so bad. I smiled like I was told and fortunately-didn't trip in these god awful heels that Alice insisted I wear. There was a large turnout for the wedding from both sides of the family, and so I blushed when I saw just how many people were watching me-maybe a couple of hundred or so. I tried to hold back a giggle when I saw Tanya sitting in the back row, scowling as Mike Newton-a sleaze from high school-kept trying to lean in and talk to her. I looked up at the altar and saw Edward standing beside a very nervous looking Jasper. When I caught his eye, he grinned at me and his eyes swept over my dress appreciatively. He was wearing a traditional black tux and bow tie. I smiled at him, and went to stand beside Rosalie, winking at Jasper encouragingly as I went by.

The wedding march began and the crowd stood as Alice made her entrance. She glided down the aisle like a model on a runway, clutching onto her father's arm. I looked over at Jasper, who was looking at her as though they were the only two people in the entire room. When she got to the altar, her father passed her off to Jasper-who took her hand and kissed it.

"You look beautiful darlin'" he told her, positively beaming.

Alice blushed and smiled at him in response-I've never seen her so anxious before.

The ceremony went wonderfully. They said their pre-prepared vows, and kissed passionately when they were announced husband and wife. Unfortunately, Emmett's patience has waned and he couldn't keep his big mouth shut.

"Go get a janitors closet!" He had said, loudly enough that all the front row could hear. I started giggling uncontrollably as Alice and Jasper broke apart and scowled at him. Edward chortled quietly beside him, but then punched him in the shoulder as his booming laughter filled the chapel.

They walked down the aisle as the priest announced Mr. and Mrs. Whitlock. Rosalie and Emmett followed behind them, and then Edward and I followed, arms linked.

"You look gorgeous" he whispered in my ear as we followed them out of the church.

"You don't look so bad yourself" I said, blushing from his previous comment.

Once we were outside, I congratulated Alice and Jasper. But they were quickly swept away by family members. The photographer gathered us together for some photos and then we headed to the wedding reception.

I sat at the top table between Edward and Alice. We had dinner and speeches were made, Alice threw the bouquet-which fell into Rosalie's surprised hands. The first dance was lovely-they chose '_love will keep us alive'_ by the eagles.

When other couples gathered on the dance floor I sat back in my chair and drank Champaign, watching as Edward and Tanya danced among the others. A couple of more songs passed when I decided to mingle. After a half hour of repeating how lovely Alice and Jasper were to everyone I came in contact with, I got bored. When I was walking to my seat someone grabbed my arm. I turned around to see Edward smiling at me.

"Bella? Will you please join me in this dance?" he asked, just when Aerosmiths _'Don't wanna miss a thing'_ came on.

"Sure" I told him, taking his hand. He pulled me onto the dance floor and wrapped his arms around my waist, I slid my arms around his neck and we started to sway to the music.

"Are you excited for tomorrow?" he asked.

"Oh my gosh Edward, I am _so_ excited! We have to be up at five though, so we have time to check in at the airport, and then our flight leaves at eight" I said jubilantly. It was a pure coincidence that the concert would be the day after Alice and Jaspers wedding. We're staying at my apartment tonight-for convenience.

"That sounds alright, I'm surprised to hear that coming from _you_ though-you hate being woken up early" he pointed out.

"I already told you-_nothing_ is going to keep me from missing this concert, and that includes my healthy sleeping habits." I told him. "Hey, where's Tanya?" I asked, unable to see her anywhere.

"She went to get a drink" he told me.

The song ended and I told Edward I needed to go to the bathroom. He said he was going to help Emmett blow up condoms and stick them on the bumper of the wedding car.

Once I was in the bathroom, I pulled out my purse and began to touch up my make-up, as I was re-applying my lipstick, the bathroom door opened and Tanya came in and stood in front of me with a fierce glare. We stood there for a few minutes just watching eachother until I broke the silence.

"Is there something you wanted Tanya?" I asked in a bored tone.

"I just wanted to give you a little warning before you and Eddie take off tomorrow" she said coldly.

"A little _warning_?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes. Now firstly-I know what your little plan is, you're trying to steal my boyfriend and seduce him, well let me tell you something-it ain't gonna work" she spat "Eddie loves me, and you two may be best friends but we have something that you two will never have and that's chemistry. We are perfect for eachother. So if you try anything while you're in LA, I'll know about it. Because you'll be seeing me sooner than you think." She snarled.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I yelled "I have no intention of _seducing_ Edward"

"You know Bella, when Eddie first told me about you; I thought you seemed like a really nice person. Turns out you're nothing but a selfish whore!" she yelled.

And then I smacked her. Right across her cheek.

Her hand flew to her cheek and she rubbed it gently-a red handprint forming as she caressed it.

_Yupp, that's gonna leave a bruise._

"Now that I have your attention Tanya," I started "I have no evil plan to take Edward away from you. I'm not that kind of person. However, I will let the cards fall where they may, if Edward implies that he likes me more than a friend-then happy days, because you're just a malicious bitch, whose clinging onto Edward for your social status-nothing to do with his person. But I love Edward and I will do whatever it takes to protect him from _you_" I spat.

"Now you are going to go out to him right now and tell him to have a good time-this concert was one of his life plans. The last thing I want, is for him to be worrying about you the whole trip" I snarled.

"Oh, silly, naïve Bella" she sighed dramatically "Did you really think I was going to let him go with you and not let him worry about little 'ol me? I have my own plans for Edward, you'll just have to wait and see"

Before I could ask her what she meant, she turned and stormed out of the bathroom, leaving me confused and outraged-still holding my lipstick. I quickly put it back into my bag and tried to follow her, but when I left the ladies room I ran straight into Rosalie.

"There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you! Come on, Alice and Jasper are leaving" she told me, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the exit, where dozens of other people were already gathered.

I couldn't help but laugh when I spotted the wedding car. Edward and Emmett had been quite thorough. They wrote '_get in the janitor's closet'_ all over the car in red sharpie and covered the bumper and other areas in blown up condoms.

When Alice and Jasper saw the car, they both turned beet red and looked at their parents who were trying to stifle their laughter. Before they got in, they turned to thank people for coming-when I saw the opportunity I ran over to Alice and embraced her in a tight hug.

"I'm so proud of you Alice. You and Jasper are perfect for eachother," I told her.

"Aw Bella, thank you so much. And listen, have an amazing time at the concert, and don't forget, if anything were to happen between you and Edward-just go with it-it's fate!" she said happily.

"I will Ally, now go enjoy your honeymoon" I said to her, trying my best to hold back tears-my little Ally is all grown up.

"Thanks Bells" she said, then kissed my cheek and turned to the next guest.

I spotted Jasper and Edward talking several feet away, so I ran over and threw my arms around Jasper-effectively cutting off their conversation.

"You better take good care of her, do you hear me?" I told him playfully.

"Edward was just telling me the exact same thing" he said, smiling. "But you don't need to worry about that, I love her."

"I know you do Jasper, now it looks like Alice is ready to leave" I said, watching her get into the car "You better go"

"Yeah, thanks guys, for everything" he said walking toward the car. "Oh and Edward, remember what I said" he said pointedly at him. I wonder what that's about.

"I will"

"Bye guys!"

"Bye Jazz!"

The guests applauded when Alice and Jasper took off down the road-they were going to Hawaii for their honeymoon, a place Alice had always wanted to go to. When the car was out of sight, the crowd dispersed-some heading to the bar, other's going home. I turned to Edward.

"Do you want to leave now, or will we stay for a while?" I asked him.

"I think we should leave and get some sleep, we have to be up early" he said "I'll go tell my mom and dad we're leaving" he said and turned to go inside.

Esme and Carlisle wished us a good trip and gave us hugs as we left. I said goodbye to Rosalie-who demanded that I tell her everything when I get back. As we approached Edward's car, Tanya pulled him into a hug and kissed him passionately.

"I'll miss you Eddie" she mumbled.

"I'll miss you too babe, but it's only a couple of days, I'll be back before you know it" he said, and then kissed her cheek, before letting her go and following me to the car. I caught Tanya's eye as I was getting in and she mouthed:

"_Remember what I said"_

**A/N Dun Dun DUN!**

**What has Tanya got planned? **

**So thank you to everyone that reviewed last chapter, ESPECIALLY those who continued to review, AFTER I reached the hundred mark :) I'm a bit of a review whore, so I'm aiming high this chapter, well high for me, considering some authors demand 200 reviews per chapter. Is 30 reviews okay? I had over 400 readers on the last chapter-so this should be no problem :) SO PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! The more reviews, the quicker I'll update E and B's time in Hollywood!**

**-Cosmic Monster x**


	10. youre my best friend

**A/N I don't own Twilight**

_Ooh you're the best friend that I ever had,_

___I've been with you such a long time,_

___You're my sunshine and I want you to know,_

___That my feelings are true,_

___I really love you._

**-You're my best friend, Queen**

**BPOV**

"I'm not sleeping with you"

"Aw, come on Bells. I don't bite" he smirked, sprawling himself across the king sized bed.

It seems that the hotel got our required number of beds mixed up. Instead of two single beds like I'd asked-we have one king sized bed. This wasn't going to work.

"Look, if you're that against it- I can sleep on the couch" he said easily.

It's not that I didn't _want_ to sleep with Edward, because fuck I did. I was just worried that I wouldn't be able to keep my hands to myself-and if my dreams continued to play out as they were lately...let's just say I didn't want Edward waking up to me dry-humping his leg and asking him to fuck me in my sleep.

"No no, it's fine" I said quickly, that couch didn't look too comfy, "I'll just divide us with pillows"

"Pillows?" he asked, amused.

"Yeah, I tend to take over the whole bed" I lied.

"Okaaay..." he drawled "Well, I'm gonna take a shower. Do you wanna go for something to eat after?" he asked, heading into the bathroom.

"Sounds good, I think I'll ask the woman at reception where the hard rock cafe is," I mused as I unpacked my small bag.

"Sounds good, I always wanted to go to one" he said, and then disappeared into the bathroom

The lady at reception gave me a map of Hollywood and was kind enough to circle all of the tourist attractions, and gave me directions to the hard rock cafe. I went back to the room and changed into a pair of denim shorts, a white tank top and my black chucks. As I was putting my ray-bans on my head, Edward emerged from the bathroom in beige Khaki shorts and a white t-shirt.

"Did you get a map or something?" he asked, running a hand through his wet hair.

"Yeah, we can go to the hard rock on Hollywood boulevard, and while we're there we can check out the walk of fame" I said excitedly "Ooh! Then we should go to the Hollywood museum!"

"We should get one of those maps of stars homes" he said happily, just as excited as I was.

We bantered back and forth like children for ten more minutes before eventually leaving the hotel. We took our rented car and parked outside the restaurant, but before we went inside we walked along the 'walk of fame', because we were too impatient to wait until _after_ our food.

"Hey! I found Jimi Hendrix" I squealed, I felt like a child that got locked in Disneyland overnight. I quickly took a picture of the giant pink star.

"I found James Dean" Edward called from a couple of stars down, and I rushed over to see for myself.

"You know, you and James Dean are very similar" I mused, staring at the star.

"We are?" he asked.

"Yeah, you both have that-bad boy yet laid back persona. You also look like him when you wear your leather jacket"

"Hmm," he hummed thoughtfully.

"What?"

"I'm trying to think of who you look like"

"Any ideas?"

"None spring to mind. I'll need to think about it" he said

"Okay, you do that. But can we go for food now? I'm hungry"

He nodded in agreement and we headed back up the path towards the cafe. On the way back we stopped to look at some stars that we skipped. We took pictures with Fleetwood Mac and David Bowie-I think I frightened a few pedestrians when I found Barbra Streisand by screaming and bouncing up and down, thrusting my camera at a very amused Edward, and begging him to take a photo of me with the star.

When we eventually arrived at the restaurant, we were given a table, which we left a soon as we ordered to look around at the memorabilia that adorned the walls. Edward looked like he didn't want to leave.

**EPOV**

I was in heaven.

I was surrounded by guitars and stage outfits of my idols. I paid no attention to my food. Fuck, I carried my burger around the restaurant with me until the manger kindly told me to sit at my table.

Bella laughed at my awed expression, and I smiled at her laugh-I loved her laugh, her whole face lit up beautifully.

She's fuckin' perfect.

Lately I've been having much stronger feelings for Bella than usual. I want her as my best friend, but I also want to kiss her, and-lord fucking help me-do very inappropriate things to her. I don't think I've ever had to jerk off so much-ever, and it's always quick too-Imaging Bella stroking me, sucking me off, and riding me has me coming in seconds. As much as I'd love to entertain the idea of friends with benefits-I don't think it would work out too well.

I love her as my best friend, could I possibly love her as something more?

I think I could.

After we finished our food, we decided to look in the merch shop. I saw Bella eyeing the guitar pins so I bought both of us one with 'Hard rock cafe Hollywood' inscribed on the front. Bella beamed and kissed my cheek when I gave it to her back in the car, and I had to try really fucking hard-not to lean over and kiss her on her smiling lips.

We drove around for a while, stopping at different tourist attractions such as guitar town, the Kodak centre, Madam Tussaud's, and the Chinese theatre. We eventually found the Hollywood sign, and asked a tourist from Sweden to take a picture of us standing at the bottom of the hill. We ended up getting on one of those Celebrity and Movie stars home tours, where we saw the homes of Hugh Hefner, Jennifer Anniston, Dr Phil and Elvis. Bella documented our whole day, taking pictures and sending pictures to our friends VIA text message. Our whole day was playing out fantastically; we've never had so much fun.

After our tour-which was a waste of money if you ask me, though Bella seemed to enjoy it- We decided to stop for some lunch. We found a small cafe that sold sandwiches and cakes, and decided to eat there.

"Is there anything else you want to do today?" she asked me with a mouth full of food.

"Is there anything we didn't do?" I said playfully, Bella was like an energiser bunny today-trying to do everything we could, since we wouldn't have time to do much tomorrow.

She slapped my arm playfully and pulled out her map. After only a day of using it, it was already creased and worn around the edges after being folded and unfolded all day.

"It looks like we've done all the major attractions" she mused, studying the map "Do you want to just drive around for a bit?" she asks, looking at me.

"That sounds fine" I replied, happy to do whatever she wanted.

We finished our food and got back into the car. We decided to look around West Hollywood, where Bella wanted to see 'LA Ink'-she was obsessed with that show. She would love to get a tattoo, but I knew she was secretly too chicken to go through with it. She didn't have the best pain threshold.

"Ooh! There it is!" she said, pointing out the window toward a yellow building with '_Tattoo'_ written across the top.

"Do you want me to park so you can go have a look?" I asked her.

She nodded excitedly and I parked across the road. We got out and Bella started to take pictures of the shop from the outside. It looked pretty empty inside, apart from the artists and a couple of customers.

"I'd love to go in" Bella mumbled, looking longingly through the window.

"Well then let's go" I said, grabbing her hand and pulling the door open.

"Edward!" she exclaimed, pulling me back "We can't go in-we're not customers, and as much as I'd like to, I'm not going to ask to go in and take pictures"

"We'll buy t-shirts" I said. Leaving no room for discussion, I pulled her inside and closed the door behind us.

**BPOV**

_Holy shit fuck!_

I'm in LA Ink.

I felt like squealing like a pig as I looked around. I've watched the show for years now, hoping that one day I would come in here and get a tattoo. I knew deep down that I would never go through with it-I'm not a fan of needles-or pain. It felt so weird to actually be here, rather than looking at it through my TV screen.

"Hey, can I help you guys?"

Oh my fucking god. I know that voice.

Kat Von D was talking to me.

She looked like she does on TV; messy black hair, heavy, dark make-up and fuck-awesome clothes. I stood there, gaping at her like an idiot. As Edward noticed my star struck expression he answered for me.

"Yes actually, my friend here would like a tattoo"

_What the fuck?_

"N-no" I stuttered, "I don't" I said, glaring at him.

"Yes she does, she watches your show every week. She's just afraid of the pain" He told her.

"Well it's not really that bad, depending on how big you want to go" she told him.

They were talking like I wasn't even there.

"I think she'll go small for now" he said.

I finally found my voice.

"Edward, I don't want a tattoo" I lied. I really did like the idea of getting one, just not the pain. Now I sound like a pussy.

"Bella, you're a terrible liar" he said, smirking "Come on, you can just get a little one. I know you want one, and you're really considering it"

I'm really going to regret this.

"Fine" I said, but then added "As long as you get one too"

That wiped the smile off his face.

"I don't think so, you're the one that wanted a tattoo all along-not me"

"Come on Eddie, don't be a pussy" I teased.

He glared at me and shook his head as he thought about it. Kat stood beside him, waiting patiently.

"Fine" he eventually sighed.

"Great!" I squealed and clapped my hands together, and then turned to Kat "What are the chances of us getting these tattoos today?" I asked her excitedly.

"It really depends on what you want. I have an appointment now, and then I'm free the rest of the day, so if you guys come back in about an hour with your idea, I could do you both then" she said.

"That sounds great" I beamed.

I gave her our information while Edward looked around at the merchandise. She gave us some health and safety forms to fill out while we were gone. I thanked her and we left the shop.

"I can't believe you talked me into this" I said, as we got back into the rental.

"I can't believe _you_ talked _me_ into it" he replied gruffly.

"Edward, you know I was just joking right? You don't have to do it" I said, feeling a bit bad. I was the one that wanted a tattoo, not him, and I didn't want him to look at it later on in life and hate it.

"I know I don't, I think it would be a good bonding experience I suppose. I wouldn't get this if I thought I would regret it, I could never regret anything with you Bella" he said softly, looking into my eyes.

_Swoon..._

"And besides, I have an idea for our tattoos" he said, smiling now.

"What is it?" I asked curiously, I had no idea what I wanted.

"Well, first of all; what kind of tattoo were you thinking of?" he asked.

"Something music based." I stated, "If I'm getting a permanent reminder of something I love embedded into my skin-it would either be a symbol of friendship or music."

"Okay, at least we're on the same page" he said thoughtfully. "You know when we play a duet on the piano together? You always play the right hand and I play the left?"

I nodded.

"Well, what if you got a treble clef on your right wrist and I got a bass clef on my left? That combines our friendship and music" he said.

It sounds perfect.

When I didn't respond immediately, he started to ramble nervously.

"You don't have to, of course. It was just an errant thought; I mean you said friendship in general, not our friendship. Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed-I mean, who knows, we may not even be friends next year-I mean, we better be, but-"

"Edward!" I cut him off, laughing my ass off at his nervousness, "That's an awesome idea, I really like it, and what do you mean '_we may not even be friends next year'_? We'll always be friends, and if you imply otherwise, I will go all Kathy Bates on your ass-trust me I could do a lot worse than breaking your ankles with a sledge hammer" I said seriously, but I knew he didn't really mean it. He was adorable when he was nervous.

"Yeah, you're right" he laughed "So, are we going through with it then?" he asked.

"I would love to"

We agreed on simple black symbols and started to fill out the forms. It was all very basic. Do you have any allergies? Any mental health problems? Edward questioned me on that one teasingly.

We still had a half an hour left before our appointment, so we decided to go for a walk.

"I can't believe I'm about to be tattooed by Kat Von D" I said, still in shock, not only is she one of the most renowned tattoo artists, but she is also impossible to get an appointment with, as she is so popular.

"Maybe you can take a picture with her after" he said.

"Thank you for convincing me to do this" I told him, grabbing his hand "I would never have done this otherwise."

"You're welcome, I guess" he said, smiling "I didn't want you to let the opportunity pass and then be upset when we get home-wishing you'd have done it"

"That's very thoughtful of you" I told him honestly.

"I just want you to be happy Bella" he said gently, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. As he pulled his hand back, his fingertips brushed against my cheek softly. The gesture felt so intimate, I had to restrain myself from grasping his hands and pulling him in to kiss me. At that moment it felt like the appropriate thing to do.

We continued our walk and stopped in a few gift shops. We bought our friends fridge magnets and cute Hollywood, Beer bottle openers. We headed back to the shop ten minutes before our appointment. When we got there, Kat was setting up her station and called us back.

"So do you guys know what you's want?" she asked, gathering together some tracing paper.

"Yeah, I want a small treble clef on my right wrist and Edward wants a bass clef on his left" I told her.

"Cool, is this size okay?" she asked placing the paper on my arm and drawing a rough g clef.

"That's perfect"

Edward decided to man up and go first. He sat in the chair and placed his left arm on the arm rest. I watched inquisitively as Kat shaved any hairs from his wrist area, cleaned it and putting on some latex gloves. Edward tensed slightly as she pulled out the tattoo gun and dipped it in the black ink. I grasped his right hand in my own and rubbed my thumb along his knuckles. He smiled at me appreciatively, and squeezed my hand.

"Okay, let's do this" she said "Are you ready?" she asked him.

"As ready as I'll ever be" he said, grinning-I could tell he was as excited about this as I was.

Edward tensed for a few seconds as she poked the needle into his skin, but relaxed after a few seconds. His grip on my hand loosened slightly.

"It's not actually that bad" he said to me.

"Good to know" I told him.

"So how long have you guys been going out?" Kat asked kindly.

"Oh, um, we're actually just friends" I told her. I really wish the disappointment wasn't so obvious in my tone.

"Oh, sorry, I just kinda assumed" she joked, as she started to fill in the outline.

"It's no problem"

"So why are you guys getting these tattoos?" she asked as she started to use the ink to fill in the area.

"We're pretty big music fans, as you've probably already guessed" Edward chuckled, "Sometimes we play duets on the piano together; I play left hand and she plays right, hence why I'm getting it on my left wrist. I guess it will remind us of our friendship and our passion for music" he said thoughtfully.

"So you guys are close?" she asked, smiling.

"Yeah, Bella's my best friend, I love her so much. I couldn't imagine us ever being apart." He said, looking at me, and squeezing my hand.

That had to be the sweetest fucking thing he's ever said about me.

"Aw, look, she's blushing!" Kat joked, pointing to my cheeks with her free hand.

I laughed and blushed harder as Edward beamed at me.

"Okay, we are done" she said as she cleaned Edward's arm. "Do you like it?"

Edward looked down at his arm and smiled. "It's perfect." He said, looking at it.

"Awesome, you ready Bella?" she asked, pulling on a new pair of gloves, and picking up a new gun.

I gulped audibly as I looked at the needle.

"Um...I guess..." I muttered, sitting in the seat Edward was just in.

Edward sat next to me and took my left hand in his, and rubbed my palm with the pad of his thumb in a soothing motion. His touch alone made me relax, and I smiled at him appreciatively.

Kat put the stencil on my arm, and picked up the gun again, I felt the panic begin to creep up on me.

"Ready?" she asked.

No.

"Yes" I said quietly, and then she put the needle to the stencil.

"Shit, that hurts like a bitch!" I yelled, as the needle poked into my arm rapidly-each sting as bad as the last. "You told me it doesn't hurt!" I yelped at Edward.

"It didn't hurt me! I'm sorry Bella, but look-she's nearly done with the outline" he said, trying to soothe me. "When this is finished, I'll take you out for ice-cream" he said, smiling now.

"You're paying" I told him, trying to hold back a smile.

"Of course, I'm sorry it's hurting sweetheart," he said gently, rubbing my cheek with his free hand, it relaxed me, so I leaned into his touch.

I wanted to turn around and kiss his palm-but that might be weird. He was being so sweet, not only was he buying me a tattoo; he also got one himself to make me feel better, he got his first even though he didn't want one to begin with, and now, here he is, holding my hand and rubbing my cheek while I get a symbol of our friendship embedded into my skin forever.

"All done"

I looked down at my arm and gazed at the little treble clef on my wrist-it was perfect. I grabbed Edward's wrist and put it against mine, they looked amazing-even though they were so small- they meant so much.

"Thank you so much" I told her.

"You're welcome, I'm glad you like it" she said.

She wrapped our wrists up to heal and Edward paid for them-even though I begged him to let me pay-my begging was futile as Edward is as stubborn as I am, and refused to let me pay.

"I hope I'll see you guys again," Kat said as she pulled me into a hug. And then I remembered something.

"Um, Kat? Do you mind if we get a picture with you before we leave?" I asked nervously.

"Sure, no problem" she said happily. I gave the guy at the counter my camera and Edward came over to us. Edward and I showed our wrists and stood on either side of her-when the picture was taken we said our final goodbyes and left.

"Wow, I never thought I would actually get a tattoo, let alone getting one by Kat Von D!" I said, as the excitement from earlier made itself known.

"I'm glad you convinced me into getting one" he said, walking toward the car.

"Did you really just get one because I called you a pussy? Or was there another reason?" I asked curiously.

"I did it because I love you Bella, and I want you to be happy" he said immediately.

And in that moment, when he said those heartfelt words, my heart swelled and I knew one thing for certain.

I was falling in love with my best friend.

**A/N**

**Raise your hand if you're as obsessed with LA ink as I am :)**

**This was just a bit of a filler chapter- the next chapter however is going to get **_**very**_** interesting...Let's just say it involves two drunk amigo's, a karaoke, and some lacy lingerie...Think of that what you will...;)**

**So I'm a bit disappointed more people didn't review for the last chapter. 30 reviews isn't a lot to ask for, so here's the deal-I'm not posting this next fuck-awesome chapter until we get to 150 reviews capiche? But I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone that has been reviewing, you will be rewarded in good time :)**

**Until next time,**

**-Cosmic Monster.**


	11. Mi Amigo

**A/N I don't own Twilight.**

***This chapter contains a lemon, please keep in mind that this story is rated M and if you are under the legal age, I would prefer if you skipped over it.**

_I've got a friend,__  
><em>_Shows me all the good times,__  
><em>_Tells me I look better,__  
><em>_Chews me up and spits me out,__  
><em>_And then walks my ass home.__  
><em>_And sings a song,_

_When I'm gone, gone, gone._

**-Mi Amigo, Kings of Leon**

**EPOV**

"We should go out for dinner" I said, when we were eventually back in the hotel room. After we got our tattoos we came back here and took a small nap, the combination of heat and overall exhaustion from walking all day eventually took its tole on us-so I happily fell asleep with Bella curled up to my chest.

"That sounds good, where do you wanna go?" she asked, rolling over in the bed to look at me-her elbow propped up on the pillow to hold up her bed head.

"I saw a cool looking steakhouse down the road, we could go there" I told her.

"That sounds fine, I think I'll change first and then we can go" she said, getting out of the bed and rifling through her suitcase for something to wear.

When she found some appropriate attire, she went into the bathroom to change. I pulled on a pair of denim jeans instead of my shorts and I was ready to go. I looked down at the wrapping on my wrist and pulled it back to look at my tattoo. I could feel myself smiling as I looked at it-it really didn't hurt that bad, I guess Bella felt differently.

_Bella._

I felt so conflicted. It may sound juvenile, but when I watched Bella get her tattoo, I felt my heart swell, like it was about to burst through my rib cage with the pressure. Watching her get a symbol of our friendship meant so much-the fact that she loved me enough to get a tattoo that reminded her of me, felt like nothing I've ever felt before. And I felt proud to wear a reminder of her on my arm, because I loved her too-much more than I should I think...She was just _perfect_-to me anyway. I have a strong physical attraction to her, I've known her my whole life, we share the same interests and hobbies, and then there were the smaller things; like her blush, the way she chewed on her nail when she was nervous, or bounced up and down when she was excited, her wit, her sometimes child like behaviour and her positive attitude in general...

Was I falling in love with Bella?

_Fuck yes, and I wasn't going to stop myself._

I was pulled abruptly from my thoughts by the bathroom door opening. She came out wearing a tight black skirt with a light green blouse tucked into it, and black ankle boots with a small heel. The heels made her legs look extra long and the tight skirt displayed her figure beautifully. She wore little make-up, and kept her hair down.

"You look gorgeous" I blurted out.

"Thank you" she said smiling and twirling around. "Are you ready to leave?" she asked, grabbing her purse.

"Yeah, let's go"

We decided to take a cab, as we would probably both be drinking tonight. I told the driver the name of the place and we arrived in a few minutes. It actually turned out to be a bar that served food. Bella was more than happy to eat here, even though bar food isn't always the best. Once inside, we found a booth close to a stage of sorts; on the stage was a microphone and Karaoke machine, beside the machine there was a sign that said _'Karaoke tonight at nine'_. I checked my watch and noticed it was half eight and a lot of people were coming in and signing their names on pieces of paper to put in a hat.

"I have to go to the bathroom, I'll be back in a few minutes" I told Bella, who was looking over the menu.

"Okay, do you want me to order for you?" she asked.

"Yeah, just get me a burger or something-you know what I like" I said quickly and then ran over to the small hat. I quickly wrote our names on the paper provided and put it into the hat-praying we would get picked out.

When I was back there were two beers and two shots on our table. I looked at Bella questioningly as I sat back down.

"I thought we deserved to get drunk after the very _trying_ day we had today" she said jokingly.

"All that walking was very strenuous" I agreed, picking up my shot and downing it, it burned my throat and I grimaced at the taste. Bella downed hers aswell, and her face scrunched up cutely at the bitter taste.

"This has to be the best vacation ever" I stated as I drank some of my beer "I mean, we went to the hard rock cafe, we walked the walk of fame, we got tattooed by Kat Von D, and tomorrow, we're going to see our favourite band of all time live! It doesn't get any better than this" I sighed, wrapping my arm around her shoulder.

"It probably doesn't," she agreed.

"But you know what the best part is?" I asked her.

"What?"

"I'm with you"

"You're so corny Edward" she laughed, slapping my chest lightly.

"I was being serious" I exclaimed, pulling back to look at her. "I couldn't imagine having this much fun with Emmett, or Jazz or the girls"

"Yeah, you're right, being with you probably is the best part" she said shyly.

Our food arrived then and we dug in. We chatted about the concert, wondering what songs they would and would not play. Bella was texting through our food; she seemed distracted so I asked her who it was.

"Demetri" she sighed.

_Fucking Knob._

"What does he want?" I growled.

"He was just wondering how we're doing" she said "He also wants to know what my tattoo is like"

_Perfect_.

"Give me your phone" I asked her, reaching for it-she pulled it back immediately.

"No"

"Come on" I chided, moving around to her.

"No Edward, I don't trust you with it" she laughed, pulling away.

"I promise I won't say anything that will offend him" I told her, holding my hand out for the cell.

"Fine" she huffed, placing it in my hand, "Nothing offensive"

After a few seconds I handed it back to her.

"What did you say?" she asked, pressing a few buttons on her phone in search of the text.

"I deleted it" I stated.

Before she could wait for an answer, her phone beeped signalling an incoming message. She read over it with wide eyes and then turned her furious gaze on me.

"You told him I got a tramp stamp of a playboy bunny?" she yelled, glaring at me.

"I thought it would be funny" I chuckled.

"You're an ass"

"You love it"

She huffed and put her phone in her bag. When we were finished our food, we ordered more shots and a bottle of Jack Daniels. A large crowd of college kids came in and sat at the bar, they seemed drunk and signed up for the Karaoke. I noticed Bella was starting to get a little tipsy-and so was I. The crowd of kids sat in front of us. We started a conversation with them; they were from the University of California and were on a class trip. I noticed one guy staring at Bella a little too long for my liking, so I threw my arm over her shoulder in a protective manner.

"You alright?" I slurred in her ear.

"Yeah, this is awesome! And so are these guys, and the drinks are good too" she mumbled drunkenly.

I kissed her forehead and watched as one of the bar tenders got up on the stage and announced the first group of people to sing. It turned out to be two of the guys we were talking to, they got onto the stage and sang "You're the one that I want" from _Grease_. They were really funny guys, who tried their best to act out the whole scene as best as they could remember. We ordered more drinks-I've lost track of how many we've had. The next group went on and somehow, Bella ended up on my lap, with her arms locked around my neck.

"Edward?" she slurred into my ear.

"Yeah?" I slurred back 

"I love you, do you know that?"

"I love you too Bella" I told her, I wasn't really thinking about what I was saying.

"No, like, I really love you. I wanna kiss you all the time" she said, with a kiss to my cheek. It felt _really_ good.

"I wanna kiss you all the time too Bella" I told her honestly-apparently when I'm drunk I like to tell the truth "You're so sexy" I mumbled into her neck unthinkingly.

"I think you're sexy too" she mumbled seductively, and before I could reply, she placed a hot wet kiss on my neck. I moaned and I felt her smile as she did it again. I knew I should probably stop her, but it felt _sooo_ good...

"Next we have Bella and Edward!"

**BPOV**

"Next we have Bella and Edward!" I heard the bar tender from earlier say into the microphone. I abruptly stopped kissing his neck and looked up at him.

"Did you put our names in?" I beamed, momentarily forgetting my assault on his neck. I could tell he was enjoying it and I was too-so why should I stop again?

"Yeah" he replied, smiling lazily at me.

"Awesome, let's go!" I squealed, pulling him up out of the booth, and towing him over to the stage. I stumbled in my drunken haze and tried to remind myself not to do anything I might regret later.

_Fuck it; I'm having a damn good time here._

The frat boys from earlier were hollering at us as we got on the stage. I grabbed one mike and Edward grabbed another, and the bar tender played with the system for a few minutes before the song came on. I recognised it immediately as Human Leagues '_Don't you want me baby?'_

With the confidence the alcohol gave me I started to sway my hips and dance. I had the pleasure of watching Edwards eyes pop and follow my swaying ass. When he realised it was his turn to sing, he abruptly turned toward the screen and started to sing.

_You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar, when I met you,_

_I picked you out, I shook you up and turned you around,_

_Turned you into someone new,_

_Don't? Don't you want me? _

_You know I can't believe it when I hear that you won't see me._

When it came to the chorus, Edward turned to me and started to sing at me and I joined him.

_Don't you want me baby?_

_Don't you want me oh,_

_Don't you want me baby?_

_Don't you want me oh._

When it was my turn to sing, I strutted over to him and pressed my back to his chest, grinding into his hips. My audience cheered and wolf whistled as I did this-and I felt Edward's erection grow beneath me. I smiled at the reaction and kept going.

_I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar, that much is true._

_But even then I knew I'd find a much better place,_

_Either with or without you,_

_The five years we have had, have been such good times,_

_I still love you, _I sang pointing at him with my free hand.

_But now I think it's time I lived my life on my own,_

_I guess it's just what I must do._

We continued to dance around at the final chorus; I could feel the sexual tension building as we danced around eachother. At the final phase of the song Edward grabbed my arm and pulled me to him, and then pressing me against his chest by wrapping the arm around my waist, barely grazing my ass.

_Don't you want me baby?_

I kissed his neck as our audience erupted into cheers. I looked up at him, and was taken aback the intensity there- lust and craving were very present in his eyes as he looked at me longingly. I grabbed his hand and pulled him back to our table- where we were congratulated by how hot our performance was. Edward sat down and I moved to sit beside him-but he grabbed my hips as I was shuffling over to my seat-and pulled me into his lap.

"Did you have fun torturing me up there?" he whispered into my ear.

"Mhmm" I mumbled "Something tells me you had fun too" I whispered back in my best seductive voice, grinding onto his cock lightly.

"Ungh" he grunted in my ear "Don't start anything you're not going to finish Swan" he teased.

"Who said I'm not going to finish?" I whispered into his ear bravely-at this stage, I was really waiting for the 'go ahead' signal that I've been waiting for since I started kissing his neck.

"Let's go back to the hotel" he slurred slightly. "I'm kinda tired"

I don't know if that was the signal or not, but I quickly stood up, and started for the door. We said goodbye to the college kids and called for a cab. Once we were inside the cab, Edward wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. We said nothing the whole journey. I wanted to know what he was thinking. Was he mad at me for being a slutty drunk again? Or was he so turned on that I've rendered him speechless?

We stumbled up to our room, gaining a few looks from some people. I had a hard time getting the key in the door, my sight was starting to get a little blurry.

"Here, give it to me," he slurred. I gave him the key and he tried to shove it in-he missed three times before it actually went in and then the door opened. We stumbled inside and I fell back onto the couch. Edward wandered over to the mini bar and had a look.

"You wanna glass of champaign?" he asked, pulling out a bottle and two flutes.

"Yeah" I mumbled.

He wandered over to me and plopped down beside me. He poured the two flutes and passed me one.

"To our fuck awesome friendship!" he slurred, holding up his glass.

I touched my glass to his and drank it. We sat in silence for a few minutes. I thought he fell asleep-but I had a better idea.

I crawled over the couch slowly. Edward looked at me longingly and I looked right back at him from under my lashes.

"Edward?" I slurred, crawling into his lap, "Remember when we played spin the bottle, you really liked that kiss huh?" I asked, with a kiss to his neck.

"Yeah, I really enjoyed it, you're so sexy Bella," he mumbled into my ear.

"Do you want me Edward?" I garbled, my eyes closing of their own accord.

He responded by grabbing the back of my head and crushing his lips to mine. I responded immediately by lacing my fingers through his hair and pressing him to me. I opened my mouth and ran my tongue along his bottom lip, he responded by thrusting his tongue into my mouth. His hands trailed down my back and stopped at my ass. I unthinkingly grabbed his hands and placed them on my ass.

"Fuck I always wanted to feel your ass" he mumbled into my ear, and started kissing along my neck.

I threw my head back and moaned in appreciation. I should stop, we should stop. But I couldn't remember the reason _why_ we should stop. I was pulled away from my thoughts by Edward squeezing my ass and capturing my lips in his.

"Bed" I mumbled against his lips- I shouldn't have drunk that Champaign, my head wasn't clear.

Edward seemed to understand; he stood up with me still in his arms and carried me over to the bed. He threw me down and crawled on top of me, placing wet open mouthed kisses along my collar bone-he tried to go lower, but my blouse was preventing him from doing so. I pushed him off of me and un-tucked my shirt-grabbing the hem and pulling it over my head. Edward's eyes glazed over as he took in my lace covered breasts. He moaned at the sight before bending down and sucking on the exposed flesh. I laced my fingers through his hair-thoroughly enjoying the sensation of his lips sucking and nipping at my skin.

"Edward, I need you" I mumbled, kicking off my shoes.

Within the next couple of seconds, Edward had my skirt off and his shirt off. I ran my fingers down his exposed chest and stopped at his belt buckle. I quickly unbuckled it and pulled down his zipper. He understood what I was doing and pulled them off, before kissing me passionately.

_So fuckin' good._

I reached my hands behind my back and unclasped my bra, letting it fall down my shoulders. I grinned when Edward pushed me back onto the bed and took one of my nipples into his mouth. His other hand came up and grasped my breast-squeezing and pinching my puckered nipple. I ran my fingers through his hair and he licked and sucked.

"Mmm, Bella I want you" he muttered.

"Take me" I gasped.

He reached down and grasped my panties in his hand and pulled them down. I would usually feel self-conscious, but at the moment I really couldn't find it in me to care. I caught the hem of his boxers between toes and pushed them down. He smiled lazily at me and kicked them off.

"You're perfect" he mumbled "I've dreamt about doing this all summer" I grinned internally at his confession. I bucked my hips towards him and he hissed as my heat made contact with his cock.

He leaned down and kissed me once more before pushing into me slowly. I moaned into his mouth, he was so big and felt amazing.

"You feel so fucking good Bella" he sighed. I felt myself being turned on when he cursed and bucked my hips. He got the hint and started to thrust in and out of me. I sighed and closed my eyes at the sensation. He grunted and started to go faster. I opened my eyes to look at him, he looked back at me with lust filled eyes, and reached up to take one of my nipples into his mouth.

"Harder Edward" I moaned in delight as he obeyed and thrust harder and faster into me. I could feel my orgasm approaching and clawed at his back.

"Fuck Bella, I'm gonna come"

"Me too Edward, fuck" I screamed as amazing sensations shot through my body. I could feel Edward spill inside of me as he thrust in and out of my throbbing centre a few more times before he dropped against my chest and panted. I pulled his face to mine and kissed him a few more times before he pulled out of me and lay beside me. He wrapped his arms around me and I sighed happily into his chest.

After a few moments I could hear him snoring lightly in my ear; so I snuggled closer to him and passed out.

**A/N**

**So...Review? up to 190 and I'll update :)**

**I got an anonymous review last time-someone complaining about asking for reviews. They stated that authors who ask for reviews are 'idiotic' and 'stupid', I would have preferred to PM this reviewer, but they were obviously to cowardly to man the fuck up and sign in. I take time out of my social life to write, type and upload these chapters for you guys- so I don't understand how I'm **_**stupid**_** for asking for a couple of reviews in return. If anyone has a complaint I would prefer if you PM me about it.**

**Sorry for the rant, but it really pissed me off. Anywho...thanks to all those who left reviews! You guys are really amazing; I was very pleased to see that there were a lot of LA ink fans reading this story :)**

**Until next time,**

**-Cosmic Monster.**


	12. Use Somebody

**A/N I don't own Twilight**

_I've been roaming around,_

_always looking down at all I see,__  
><em>_painted faces, fill places I can't reach,__  
><em>_You know that I could use somebody,__  
><em>_you know that I could use somebody,__  
><em>_Someone like you_

**-Use Somebody, Kings of Leon**

**EPOV**

I groaned as I woke up. My head was throbbing. I failed to recall what happened last night and how I got into the bed. I remember as far as the Karaoke, but everything after that is a blur. I didn't realize I was holding Bella until she sighed quietly beside me. I rubbed her back lightly with my eyes still closed when I realized that she wasn't wearing a top.

My eyes snapped open.

_Shit_.

Bella's naked.

I looked down at my naked self and froze.

And then last night's events came rushing back to me.

The shots, the beer, the whiskey, Bella sitting on my lap, Bella kissing my neck, Karaoke, Bella grinding into me, back at the table where she implied that she would take care of my problem, getting the cab, drinking Champaign on the couch, making-out with Bella on said couch, carrying her to the bed, ravishing her in the bed and finally…having sex with her in the bed.

I needed to do something-apologize for being a drunken idiot. Did she want it too? Or was I just imagining she did? She acted like she wanted it. At the time I definitely wanted it-she got me so horny, and fuck, when I saw her sprawled across the bed in just her panties-I lost any control I had-not that I had much to begin with.

Bella sighed next to me and rolled over so she was facing me. I stiffened as she slowly opened her eyes and winced when she did.

"Morning" she mumbled.

"Uh, morning" I muttered. Did she forget what we did too? Does she remember any of it? I _really_ don't want to have to explain this to her.

She closed her eyes again and sighed. She brought her arms up and stretched-as she did this, the sheets that were covering her slid down-revealing her perky breasts. Bella's eyes snapped open and she looked down to see what I was looking at. She gasped and grabbed the sheets to cover herself.

"Fuck" she exclaimed quietly, her eyes wide in realization as she looked at my naked chest.

"Yeah," I mumbled, not really knowing what to say.

"Did we-"she started, but I knew what she was going to say.

"Yeah, we did"

"Oh my god," she muttered, running her fingers nervously through her hair."Do you-do you _remember_?" she asked nervously, not looking at me.

"Sort of, everything from last night is a little blurry" I told her solemnly.

And cue awkward silence.

"Same here" she sniffled. It took me a few seconds to realize that she was crying.

"Bells, why are you crying?" I asked, I wanted to pull her into my arms and comfort her-but we were still naked so that wasn't really an option.

"I-I'm so sorry Edward" she cried, bringing her knees up to her chest in a defensive manner. "I'm such a whore when I'm drunk, I shouldn't have been kissing you and playing with you at the bar like that, I'm such an awful friend."

"Bella, don't you ever say that about yourself!" I growled. I was horrified that she would even think of calling herself something like that. "I encouraged you to keep going, so it's my fault too" I told her.

"I still shouldn't have acted like that. You have a girlfriend Edward; that makes me such an awful person." Tears were streaming down her cheeks now.

_Fuck it._

I threw my arm over her shoulder and pulled her against my side. She stiffened for a second before relaxing and snuggling against me.

"You're not an awful person if I initiated it also, _knowing_ myself that I have a girlfriend" I told her, rubbing her bare arm.

"So you're not mad at me?" she asked cautiously, looking up at me from underneath her wet lashes.

"Of course I'm not mad at you. But I think we need to have a long talk about this" I told her seriously. "We obviously have a strong attraction toward eachother that we need to discuss"

"Yeah, we do. But…can it wait until we get home? The concert is tonight and I would prefer to pretend like nothing happened-just for today. We can talk about it all we want after, but I just want to have a fun-filled day with you. No awkwardness" she mumbled.

"That seems fair" I said "But I want you to know Bella, that I wanted it last night. It wasn't just you, and I really enjoyed it." I told her.

She blushed at my statement, and a small smile crept across her features.

I hoped that what I was about to say next wouldn't diminish that smile.

"So I obviously need to re-evaluate my relationship with Tanya; because I thought it didn't get any better than that. But after last night, and all of yesterday with you-I realized it could be so much better. And I just want you to know Bella; that I have very strong feelings for you, and I want to know if you feel the same way before I let these feelings go any further" I held my breath as she sat in silence with a thoughtful look on her face.

"I have strong feelings for you too Edward. And I'm sorry that we're only telling eachother this after a night of drunken sex." She sighed "It shouldn't have happened this way."

"You're right" I said solemnly.

It was silent for a few moments as we thought over everything that happened last night and what we said just now. What I said was true-I did have strong feelings for Bella, if I didn't- I wouldn't have allowed last night to happen. Bella shifted next to me and took in a deep breath.

"Um, Edward? Would you mind looking away for a second" she asked quietly, shifting away from me.

After seeing all the goods last night I didn't really see the point-but she looked thoroughly embarrassed, so I humored her and closed my eyes. I felt her move out of the bed-the sheets pulling away from me a little. I heard her opening and closing the drawer to retrieve some clothes and then the bathroom door opening and closing. I opened my eyes just as the shower started running.

**BPOV**

_Holy Mother of fuck, what have I done?_

I felt like my head was going to explode-partly from my major hangover and partly from the conversation I just had with Edward.

I stepped into the shower-the hot water loosening my stiff muscles. I made sure to clean myself thoroughly, I smelled of sweat, Edward and sex. My vagina was aching a little-it's been a while since I've had sex.

How could I have gotten drunk like that? I felt so ashamed of myself. When I woke up this morning I had totally forgotten what had happened last night, and then I found out by Edward staring at my bare tits.

_Greeeeat_.

How could he have been so fucking calm about this? I was freaking out! And what did he mean he had a '_strong attraction to me'_? I don't buy it-for all I know, he was saying that to make me feel better. I strongly regret last night. It should not have happened that way-if ever. I knew that I did want it-but not with the confidence of alcohol.

I remember last night so clearly now. The way Edward kissed me passionately, the way he held me as he kissed my neck, sucking on my bare breasts and finally giving me the best orgasm I've ever had. I can't believe I cried in front of him-that's just what a guy wants the morning after sex, the girl he fucked balling crying. I felt a few tears fall down my cheeks as the water started to go cold. I turned it off and stepped out-wrapping the towel around myself.

The tears came harder now, and I began to sob quietly. I was just so furious with myself-furious with the situation. Would our friendship survive? Did Edward even _want_ to be my friend anymore? Would he stop speaking to me? I'm worse than Tanya. The worst Tanya ever did was annoy me, or threaten me-but she never physically harmed me…And I slept with her boyfriend. This thought caused me to dry heave and I lunged for the toilet-but luckily nothing came up.

I had to snap out of this before Edward came looking for me. I quickly stood up and dried off. I splashed some cold water on my face and got dressed. I made a promise to myself to try and act like nothing happened last night. We would go about our day as though nothing happened, and we would enjoy the concert tonight. We would discuss it further when we got home.

_That'll be easier said than done._

When I emerged from the bathroom, Edward was sitting at a small coffee table with some muffins and coffee. He smiled sheepishly as I sat down next to him and picked up a muffin.

"Thanks" I said, I winced at my mournful tone.

"You're welcome. Um, I gonna take a shower" he said, standing up.

Before I could respond, he was already gone. I sighed at his abrupt departure-I guess he didn't want to be in the same room as me now. I refused to sit here wallowing in my own self pity. So I pulled my chucks on and left Edward a note saying that I went for a walk, before I left the hotel.

I have been walking for more than an hour when I looked at my phone to see that it was already half past five. The concert started at seven so we had to be there for at least six. I got a cab back to the hotel and walked back to the room. While I was out I received no texts or phone calls from Edward. My whole walk consisted of thoughts of him. Of how his body fit perfectly with mine, how we worked so well together, and how I would do anything for us to pursue a relationship together. But I couldn't-not now anyway, since he couldn't even look at me.

I really fucked this up for myself.

Edward was dressed and sitting on the couch when I got in. Memories of that couch from the previous night flooded my mind and I tried my best to push them away.

"We should leave" I told him, grabbing my purse and camera.

"Yeah, we should" he mumbled, standing up and walking over to me. I could feel his presence behind me as I rifled through my bag, so I turned around to face him.

"What?" I asked, it came out shaper than I'd intended.

"Bella, you're avoiding me" he stated.

"No I'm not-you're avoiding me" I snapped back angrily.

"Why did you leave?" he asked.

"I needed to clear my head" I told him honestly, it didn't do the job though, if anything-it cluttered it.

"Do you want to talk about this?"

"When we get home"

"Why not now?"

"Because, I don't want to make things anymore awkward than they already are."

"It doesn't have to be awkward"

"Of course it's going to be awkward!" I yelled "You obviously hated it and now you're avoiding me!"

"Bella I did not hate it! I told you that this morning. If anything I regret I was too drunk to enjoy it properly"

"You're just saying that to make me feel better"

"No, Bella-"

"We said we would talk about this when we get home. Now let's go, we're going to be late" I stated, and leaving no room for discussion-I turned away from him and walked out the door.

**EPOV**

How does Bella get these ideas into her head? What does she mean I'm avoiding her? She's the one that left. I wanted to discuss this but she was avoiding it. I felt clueless. I wanted her to understand that I don't regret last night, because if last night didn't happen-the opportunity to express our feeling would have never come. But now Bella was forbidding me to act on this opportunity.

We drove to the stadium in silence. I wasn't going to be the one to break it. Bella fidgeted nervously in her seat, and I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter than I should out of irritation. When we arrived, I parked and went to get Bella's door. I held my hand out for her and she took it cautiously. I didn't let go of it as we walked into the stadium. I was going to prove to her that last night did not have a negative effect on me- by acting as natural as possible.

I noticed Bella's eyes light up as we walked by the merchandise. I refused to let her smile disappear so I immediately asked her if she wanted a tour date t-shirt.

"Um, sure but I'm paying" she said quickly.

"No you're not" I scoffed, smiling.

She smiled.

"Edward, you paid for nearly everything on this trip, just let me buy you a stinkin' t-shirt" she argued with a small smile, momentarily forgetting about our argument.

I gave in with a sigh and followed her over to the stand. She paid for our t-shirts and handed me mine. I threw it on over my current t-shirt and Bella did the same.

I took her hand again and pulled her over to the crowd. The next half hour before the band came on was spent squeezing our way as close to the front as we could get. When we were about three people from the front, Bella stopped me and said that we were close enough.

"Are you alright?" I asked leaning down so she could hear me over the crowd.

"Yeah, I'm fine" she replied. I noticed that a lot of the crowd was drunk and some people beside us were completely out of it, so I wrapped my arms around Bella's waist from behind in a protective manner. She looked up at me and smiled beautifully.

"Thanks" she said, placing her hands over mine. I loved the position we were in, this was the kind of position that a boyfriend and girlfriend would stand in. I leaned down and kissed her hair-inhaling her wonderful scent.

Suddenly the stadium darkened and the crowd erupted into screams and applause. The stage lit up and the band members packed onto the stage. Bella threw her hands up in the air and started cheering, I looked down at her and she looked like she was about to cry from the excitement. She looked up at me and beamed, before kissing my cheek and looking back at the stage.

The band started off with some of their older hits such as '_Four kicks'_ and '_Taper Jean girl'_. The crowd was amazing; everyone here knew every single word to every song-there was a fantastic atmosphere. The crowd went insane when they played '_Charmer'_ and '_Sex on fire'_-Bella and I went crazy jumping around and screaming the lyrics.

"Edward this is fucking awesome!" Bella yelled as the band went off the stage for a few minutes.

"I know!" I yelled back, looking into her eyes.

She gazed back at me lovingly and suddenly our excitement disappeared. She turned around with a determined look in her eye and grabbed the tops of my arms. Her eyes held so much emotion, like she was debating with herself. The band came back on and the crowd once again erupted in screams. The renowned _oh oh oh-_to Kings of Leon's '_Use somebody'_ came on-but I barely heard it, I was too busy paying attention to Bella's intense gaze.

_I've been roaming around,_

_always looking down at all I see,__  
><em>

_painted faces, fill places I can't reach,__  
><em>

_You know that I could use somebody,__  
><em>

_you know that I could use somebody,__  
><em>

The way she looked at me-it was as if I were the only person in the world that existed in that moment. It felt so right holding her in my arms, and I knew that I would never be able to let her go, physically or emotionally. Because in those few seconds I realized that Bella wasn't my best friend to me anymore-she was more than that.

I was in love her.

_Someone like you,_

_And all you know and how you speak,_

_countless lovers undercover of the streets_

_You know that I could use somebody,_

_You know that I could use somebody,_

_Someone like you._

Last night wasn't a mistake-it was fucking fate or something that led us to this moment, and I wasn't about to let this moment pass. So instead of smiling at her and watching the band- I wrapped my hand around the back of her head and leaned in so that our foreheads were touching and prayed to god that she felt the same way.

**BPOV**

Edward wrapped his hand around my neck and leaned in until our foreheads were touching-I didn't really have a plan when I turned to him earlier. I wanted to kiss him, hug him-do anything to show him that I loved him. Instead, I stood there, gazing at him longingly. The way he looked back at me-it was so intense, his stare penetrated deep into my soul, and my heart, causing my breath to quicken.

_Off in the night, why'd you live it up, I'm off to sleep,  
><em> 

_waging wars to shape the poet and the beat,_

I knew what I had to do. I had to get my feelings out into the open-show him what I wanted from him, and if he didn't want me that way then I would just have to deal with it.

_I hope it's going to make you notice...  
><em> 

_I hope it's going to make you notice..._

_Someone like me..._

So with that thought in mind, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and leaned in to kiss him.

"Eddie!"

I froze.

My entire being came to a standstill as I recalled the nasally voice that I came to despise so much. My breathing halted as Edward froze in front of me. The hand that was lightly caressing my scalp stopped and dropped to his side instantly and I felt my heart plummet to my stomach.

_Someone like you... somebody_

I looked up at Edward. His expression varied from shock, anger, confusion, and sadness.

_Someone like you... somebody_

"Eddie!" The voice screeched again from behind Edward, closer this time.

Edward's head snapped up and his eyes widened. I turned away from him to see Tanya, pushing her way through the crowd to get to us, waving frantically at Edward and gesturing to her V.I.P pass that hung around her neck.

I never wanted to punch someone so much in my life. I clenched and unclenched my fists as she smiled at Edward and grabbed him around the waist when she reached us. My heart thudded audibly in my chest as my rage built up inside of me. How dare she come here? This was mine and Edward's trip. I bought the ticket for Edward only. How the fuck did she get in here and how did she manage to get a V fuckin' I.P pass?

And then I remembered what she said to me in the bathroom at the wedding;

"_You'll be seeing me sooner than you think."_

Edward looked frantically between me and Tanya-his expression torn, as though he had to make the biggest decision of his life by choosing to stay with me or her.

"Surprise!" she squealed, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He shouldn't have to look so torn. If he had strong feelings for me, like he claimed earlier today-then he shouldn't even be _considering_ Tanya. He finally looked at me with an apologetic smile and looked back at Tanya- who crushed her lips to his passionately.

That was all I needed to see. He obviously didn't share the same feelings I did-I was making a fool of myself for even attempting to kiss him. I was probably right about earlier too, he told me he had feelings for me after sex to stop me from crying-make me feel better.

Now, I really wished he hadn't.

With that thought, I left Edward's side and pushed my way through the crowd-heading for the exit-all the while fighting the tears that would surely break me down if they escaped.

_I've been roaming around, I was looking down at all I see._

My heart was broken, and I don't think it could ever be mended again.

**A/N**

**Please don't kill me! I'll update as soon as I get the next chapter typed up-I hate cliffies so I'll try to be really quick about it :)**

**So thanks to everyone who reviewed! I wasn't expecting to get such a huge response so quickly and therefore didn't have this chapter typed up fully :L So all I ask this time is to just go beyond the two hundred and thirty mark and I will get the next chapter to you's as quick as I can.**

**-Cosmic Monster.**


	13. Helena

**A/N I don't own Twilight**

**I just wanted to clear something up before you guys read this chapter. A lot of you guys were seriously hating on Edward because Tanya kissed him. Remember that **_**Tanya**_** kissed **_**him**_**, and Bella ran away before she could catch his response, too many of you assumed that Edward kissed Tanya in front of Bella. EDWARD WOULD NEVER DO THAT-so this chapter is of Edwards POV from that night, just to clear **_**that**_** up. Anyway, sorry for the rant, on we go!**

_And what's the worst you take,__  
><em>_From every heart you break,__  
><em>_And like a blade you stain,__  
><em>_Well, I've been holding on tonight_

**-Helena, My Chemical Romance**

**EPOV**

I gazed out the airplane window, wondering why everything had to go so wrong. Tanya sat next to me-asleep, and Bella sat behind us with an elderly lady. I insisted that she sit beside me-but she's been giving me the silent treatment all morning.

I thought back to last night-I was going to kiss her, tell her I love her. It felt like the perfect moment. I was so close. So fucking close-until Tanya came by and stole our moment. I was shocked when I seen her-confused as to why and how she managed to get in here. And then I was angry-angry that she came with such bad timing, and furious that she dared to intrude on my vacation with Bella.

The night of my birthday, she was angry that I was going away with Bella for a few days and leaving her with my family. I calmly explained to her that it was just mine and Bella's _thing_. We went to every concert together-so much so that it became a tradition. A tradition I most certainly didn't want broken by a woman that I cheated on the night before.

I felt so awful when I looked at Bella's devastated expression, and I gave her an apologetic smile- hoping in vain that she would know how sorry I am for Tanya barging in on our special moment. I was going to ask Tanya how she got here and hope that I could convince her to leave, but when I went to ask her-she kissed me. It felt, _wrong_. I was repulsed, and wished with all my heart that it was Bella I was kissing in that moment-like I was supposed to be.

I quickly pulled away in disgust, and turned to check on Bella-but she was gone. I mentally kicked myself in frustration. When I looked back to Tanya-she was positively beaming at me. I asked her what she was doing here and she told me that her '_daddy'_ was one of the contractors for the stadium and gave her a last minute ticket-a ticket any fan of the band would kill for. This pissed me off further-I loathed people like that-people that just attended concerts because they were an employer or a family member of the employer-nothing to do with the fact that they liked the band. While thousands of fans could not get tickets-it was because of these selfish people.

Tanya was now one of those people.

I wondered whether to stay and watch the rest of the concert or leave-I knew Bella would be fine getting back to the hotel. I wanted to go to her-but I knew it would only make matters worse by bringing Tanya back with me.

I stayed for one more song, but I just wasn't enjoying myself. I felt horrible for Bella-how could I let her leave like that? She wanted us to kiss-it was lucid in the way she looked at me. She had strong feelings for me-and I for her. I can't even begin to imagine how she must have felt when Tanya arrived.

I couldn't stay there-not without Bella. She went through the effort to get us tickets and spent a fortune on them-only to have her leave not even half way through the show. I told Tanya we were leaving and she just smiled brightly at me. I didn't speak to her on the way to the hotel- I was too consumed by my thoughts. Knowing Bella-she probably jumped to the conclusion that didn't want her that way and kissed Tanya on purpose-she was melodramatic like that.

When we arrived back at the room in the hotel-Bella was asleep on the couch. I didn't understand why she didn't sleep in the bed-I would have slept there. Then Tanya wandered over to the bed and lay down-and I understood Bella's choice.

When Tanya went into the bathroom, I wandered over to Bella. I had to talk to her-explain that I wanted her, loved her, and was so sorry for Tanya showing up when she did. Her eyes were rimmed red- her cheeks damp, and I knew that she had been crying. I rubbed her cheek gently with my index finger and hoped that tomorrow we could talk about this.

Tanya never answered me when I asked her what hotel she was staying at-which made me think that she planned on staying with us here anyway.

I got into bed quickly and pretended to be asleep when Tanya emerged from the bathroom-if I spoke to her now I would surely scream at her in annoyance. I needed to break up with her-my feelings for her are obviously not as strong as my feelings for Bella. My heart literally aches when I think of Bella- I would walk all the way to the ends of the universe for her love.

And now she wasn't talking to me.

I sighed heavily and looked down at my tattoo. Things had been so easy when I got it-we were happy and carefree. I wonder if she regrets getting hers now. I sure don't-and I hope that when we land, I could convince her otherwise. I needed to tell her that I planned on breaking up with Tanya-and then we can try to develop our relationship further-if she'll let me.

When the plane landed back in Seattle- Bella stood quickly from her seat and grabbed her carry-on bag. She pushed her way off the plane before I even stood up. I needed to go after her.

I shook Tanya roughly and grabbed our bags. I hurriedly stood up while Tanya took her time. I impatiently grabbed her hand and towed her off the plane-excusing myself as I roughly pushed past other passengers.

At the conveyer belt- I spotted Bella grabbing her small suitcase and towing it toward the terminal. I dropped Tanya's hand and chased after her. I pushed and shoved my way through the large crowd- gradually losing sight of her. I lost her for a second, before spotting her getting into a cab. Just as she got into the cab and slammed the door, she looked at me through the window-her eyes held nothing but sadness, and after a few seconds she glared at me. I was taken aback by the hatred they held, before the cab took off down the road.

I sighed heavily as my own heart filled with sadness and desperation. Would she ever talk to me again? Would she let me explain? Would she give me the chance to tell her I loved her?

She isn't going to have the choice-because I'm going to talk to her whether she liked it or not.

_Because I'm a selfish bastard._

**BPOV**

I told the driver my address and sunk down into my seat. Edward's downtrodden face at the terminal would be forever etched into my memory. But I couldn't talk to him-not now. Not after he kissed Tanya at the concert and then brought her back to the hotel-how dare he bring her back to our room? Aw, shit-he probably thought that I was letting them sleep together by me sleeping on the couch. That wasn't it at all-I just couldn't stand to sleep in that bed-not with the memories it held.

I winced as that night invaded my thoughts-and pushed them away quickly. That was the _last_ thing I needed to be thinking of right now.

I _knew_ Edward was lying to me about having feelings for me. But that didn't explain why he went through with the sex though. Edward would never fuck me just for the sake of it-he was a good man, he would never do that to me. All of these contradictions confused me further and gave me a headache.

When I got to the apartment, I dropped my bags and changed into some sweats and a t-shirt. I lay down in my bed and let all the pent up rage and sadness overwhelm me. Tears poured down my cheeks uncontrollably-and I let them, I needed to get them out of my system-get _Edward_ out of my system. My breath was coming out in short gasps, and I brought my knees up to my chest-hoping to stop the ache that was there. I cried for nearly an hour, occasionally screaming into my pillow when the anger became too much to handle.

My phone started to ring on my nightstand. I ignored it at first and it stopped, but quickly started to ring again-much to my annoyance. I rolled over and picked it up. The caller ID read Alice. I decided to answer-she can be relentless and would just continue to call until I picked up.

"Hello?" I said, my voice was scratchy and sore.

"Bella? Are you alright sweetie?" she asked softly.

"How do you know that something is wrong?" I asked suspiciously.

"Edward called me" she replied, while I winced at the name. "Do you want me to call over?" she asked, "I'm already in Seattle with Rose" she said.

"Um, yeah actually. I really need you guys right now" I sniffled-I felt like such a baby.

"Okay, we'll be there in a few" she told me and then hung up.

I threw my phone across the room and it landed in the corner with a bang. I buried my face in the pillow and let a few more tears escape.

Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door. I leapt out of the bed and ran for it, I yanked it open and they came rushing in and embraced me in a hug.

"Oh Bells," Rose sighed sadly "How long have you been crying?" she asked softly, looking at my tear stained face and swollen red eyes.

"About an hour" I sniffled.

Alice grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the couch. Rosalie disappeared into the kitchen, and a few seconds later I heard the kettle boiling. Alice sat next to me and pulled me into her side, she rubbed up and down my arm comfortingly-she didn't attack me for details or information-for which I was grateful.

Rosalie emerged from the kitchen a few minutes later, with three steaming cups of tea on a tray. She set the tray on the coffee table and passed Alice and I one each. She picked up her own and sat on the other side of me.

"So, do you want to tell us what happened?" she asked.

I nodded.

"We were having an amazing time" I told them, the tears making another appearance "We went to the hard rock cafe and the walk of fame- Edward loved it, and I loved being with him. We got tattoos" I suddenly gasped as I remembered, and looked down at my wrist in alarm. What if I never spoke to Edward again? I couldn't live with a constant reminder of him.

Before I could freak out any further-Alice nudged me and encouraged me to go on.

"A-and that night, we decided to go to a bar for some food. Anyway, I bought us some shots and beers and then Edward bought some whiskey, and then a group of college kids came in and bought us some jello shots-basically we got really drunk" I sighed in regret.

"Go on" Rosalie encouraged softly.

"So, next thing I know-I'm sitting on Edwards lap, kissing up his neck and telling him how sexy I thought he was" I blushed at the memory "Then he started calling me sexy in return and then we did some Karaoke and I started teasing him. When we went back to the hotel we had some Champaign and I asked him if he wanted me" I winced. "He didn't respond apart from kissing me and t-then-we had sex" I sobbed.

"Aw, Bella" Alice sighed, squeezing me tighter, "Okay, you guys had sex and you both confessed that you loved eachother-sorta. But what went so wrong for you to be this upset?" she asked dubiously.

"The next morning, I completely forgot what happened and I was so shocked to see that he was naked beside me. I completely freaked out. Edward told me that he had strong feelings for me and I was the same. I love him." I sighed.

They both smiled a little at that, but made no comment-they knew I wasn't in the mood for their excitement or '_I_ _told you so's'._

"But I'm convinced he just said that to make me feel better. Because that night at the concert, I was about to tell him I love him, and Tanya showed up."

They both gasped and then their excited faces turned furious.

"That little bitch! She told Carlisle and Esme that she was going to go visit her parents for a few days!" Rosalie exclaimed angrily.

"She probably knew that they would try and convince her to stay if they knew what her real plans were" Alice sighed "Edward told her that you two always went to concerts together alone"

"He did?" I asked-this was news to me.

"Yeah, she was really angry that you two were going away to have bonding time, while she was left in Forks. So Edward explained to her that you got him that ticket to have that time and that he would appreciate it if she wasn't upset by it" she told me.

"Then why did she come?" I asked curiously.

"She obviously wanted to check on Edward-that tramp holds no trust for either of you. Can't you see that she's jealous of your relationship Bella? She knows that Edward would choose you over her any day!"

"That's not true." I interrupted her.

"How?" Rose asked, sipping her tea.

"Because when she arrived at the concert, Edward looked at me-he was all apologetic and shit, and then she kissed him, and he didn't pull away-well not that I noticed; I ran away." I said thoughtfully.

"And why does that bother you so much? I mean she still thinks he likes her and they're still going out."

"Because that was meant to be my kiss!" I exclaimed "It just _happened_, the band was playing and the moment was so intense! It felt right to just lean in and kiss him-the way he looked at me in that moment-it was like I was the only person in the world. For just that moment, I really felt like he loved me too" I sighed, exasperated, "And then Tanya came" I mumbled.

They said nothing-instead, they wrapped their arms around me and squeezed me tightly.

"I'm so sorry Bella" Rosalie said sadly.

"I should have never let myself get in so deep" I sobbed "What am I going to do now?"

"Bella, I think you need to have a long chat with Edward about this. You two need to sort through your feelings" Alice told me knowingly.

"I don't think I can face him again Alice"

"You're going to have to, because if you don't you will be left wondering _what if_? And Bella, a friendship like yours and Edwards is rare to come by-it would be such a shame to let that friendship go" Rosalie said.

I sighed at their hopeful expressions.

"I'll think about it."

**A/N**

**So I know this chapter was kind of short, but I needed the next few scenes to be put in another chapter-because there is gonna be a lot of drama heading their way-I also needed to get Edwards POV of that night out of the way.**

**Next chapter will include a party, spiked drinks, Angry Edward, a bitch fight and a hell of a lot of confusion :L**

**260 reviews=update**

**Hugs and kisses to all my amazing reviewers :) You guys are seriously awesome people. I'm so glad a tonne of you guys are listening to the songs I add to chapters-that's why I put them there! Fuck mainstream shit! ROCK N' ROLL FOR LIFE! :)**

**-Cosmic Monster**


	14. We are Broken

**A/N I don't own Twilight.**

_Yeah, because we are broken,_

_What must we do to restore our innocence?_

_And all the promise we adored?_

_Give us life again because we just wanna be whole._

**-We are broken, Paramore**

**EPOV**

It's been three weeks.

Three weeks since Bella left me at the airport-taking my heart with her.

Three weeks I've been miserable.

I sent her text messages, phone calls, e-mails, fuck I even sent her a postcard with a small bear on the front holding a sign with 'sorry' written on it. After the first week I drove out to her apartment and banged on the door-begging her to let me in so we could talk about this. After ten minutes of my insistent knocking, she slid a piece of paper under the door with '_I'm_ _not_ _ready'_ written on it. I took that as my cue to leave.

I moped around the house-everything reminded me of Bella. I couldn't get her off my mind. Esme tried to perk me up by making my favourite dinners every night-but I wanted Bella's cooking. When a Kings of Leon song came on in my car one day-I nearly cried like a fucking baby. I needed her to listen to me. We had to talk about this-she would have to talk to me sooner or later. I knew she had feelings for me, I just needed the chance to tell her that I reciprocated those feelings.

I called Alice as soon as I got home and told her that Bella was upset, and could use some girl time or whatever the fuck it's called. She wanted more information, and I told her that it was up to Bella to tell her what she felt was appropriate. I then called Jasper and Emmett, who came over and I told them a brief version of what happened with Bella.

"Bella and I got drunk, we started making out and telling eachother how much we loved eachother, one thing led to another and we had sex" I said in one breath with a sheepish expression.

Their jaws dropped as they took in what I said. I waited in silence for them to digest the information. I wasn't sure if they would beat the crap 'outta me for having sex with the girl they considered their sister, or if they were happy that I had sex with the girl of my dreams and professed my love to her.

"Then what happened?" Emmett asked in astonishment-his eyes wide as he anticipated my next sentence.

"We both forgot the next morning at first-but when we remembered, Bella freaked out. We eventually talked about it a bit and we admitted that we had feelings for eachother, but she didn't want to talk about it-she asked to wait until after the concert" I told them.

"And...?" Jasper chided.

"At the concert I was going to kiss her and tell her I love her, and then Tanya showed up" I sighed.

"What the fuck?" Emmett yelled.

"Where is she now?" Jasper asked, looking around him.

"Shopping" I muttered, running my hands through my hair in frustration.

"Edward, you need to break up with her." Emmett said.

"I know, I'll do it as soon as I get a chance. But I was thinking. She is only staying here for two more weeks and then she's leaving, maybe I should wait 'till then?"I said "It's only three weeks, it won't cause any harm. I'll just make sure to distance myself."

"That sounds okay. But make sure you tell Bella that. Because as far as she's concerned-you two are still together" Jasper said seriously, but then furrowed his brows in confusion "Wait. What happened when Tanya showed up?" 

"She kissed me unexpectedly. I hated it, and when I turned around Bella was gone. She wouldn't talk to me on the plane, and she took a cab home" I mumbled.

Jasper and Emmett encouraged me to try as hard as possible to get in contact with her and they told me they were sorry for everything that happened. I thanked them for listening and said goodbye.

I was pulled from my thoughts by my phone beeping-it was from Tanya.

_**Party at Demetri's tonight, can we go? XxXxXxXxX**_

I sighed and rubbed my hand over my face. The first thought that came to mind was Bella might be there. She would have no choice but to talk to me. I quickly replied and told her we'd be going.

Bella was going to listen to me whether she liked it or not.

**BPOV**

"Alice, I don't really want to go" I whined as she applied some mascara to my eyelashes.

"Bella. You have done nothing but mope around this apartment for three weeks. You need to get out of here and have some fun." She stated seriously.

"Maybe I wanna mope" I mumbled under my breath.

She's right though. I've been a ghost the past few weeks.

I missed him.

I regret not replying to his texts and rejecting his constant phone calls-I suppose I'm being a little melodramatic, but I don't give a fuck about that. Besides, what could he possibly have to say to me? He fucked me and is still with Tanya. I was so confused-I didn't understand what he wanted.

I had to talk to him eventually-I knew this. But I was terrified of what he might say to me. What if he told me that he didn't want to be my friend anymore? What if that night meant nothing to him?

I wasn't prepared for _that_ kind of confrontation.

"All done" Alice chirped beside me.

I appraised myself in the mirror. My eyes were smokey. Thick, full eyelashes framed my wide eyes and my lips were a deep red. My hair cascaded in soft waves down my back and I smiled at how well I looked.

"You look hot" Rosalie said from across the room.

"Thanks" I replied, it was the best I'd looked in weeks.

I put on my black cocktail dress that Alice insisted I wear. It was strapless and around my hips was some intricate beading. I wore my black blazer with the sleeves rolled up to my elbows and grey heels.

Alice wore a purple dress that had an empire waistline and flared out above her knees. Rosalie wore a navy cocktail dress very similar to my own-only hers had straps.

Jasper and Emmett arrived at the apartment and I was grateful that Edward wasn't with them. I tried in vain to back out of going once more after Jasper confirmed that he was already there, but my attempts were futile as Emmett flung me over his shoulder and carried me to the car.

I've never been to Demetri's house before, although he insisted that I come over one evening to see it. When Emmett parked, we quickly got out and I appraised the house. It was huge-like mansion kinda huge. All the lights were on and the music and voices drifted out to us. We were greeted at the door by Demetri; he was holding a beer and gestured for us to come in.

There were probably over a hundred people here. None of them I knew. The music was extremely loud and multi-coloured lights flickered throughout the rooms like a club. The others took off to dance and I was left standing in the doorway.

_Why the fuck was I here again?_

"Bella, you look absolutely stunning tonight" Demetri said, taking my hand.

"Thank you" I replied nonchalantly.

"Do you want a drink?" he asked.

"No thanks, I'm not drinking" I told him. There was no way I was touching alcohol again. I learned my lesson.

"That's fine, how about a coke?" he asked kindly.

"Yeah, that would be great"

He disappeared into what I assumed was the kitchen, and I decided to take a look around. In the living room, people were doing body shots, as the man tried to lick the salt from her collar bone-he tripped and they butted heads, while everyone around them laughed hysterically. I laughed at their antics and continued on into the next room-where I turned right back around and walked out.

"Bella!"

_Holy mother of all fucks he saw me._

I sped up my pace, but I felt his hand grabbing my wrist and pulling me back.

"We need to talk" he said seriously.

"About what?" I asked, feigning cluelessness.

"Cut the bull Bella, you know exactly what we need to talk about." He said sternly, his eyes were blazing.

"And what? You think now is the right time to do it?" I asked him angrily.

"Well, you've been avoiding me the past three weeks. This may be the only chance I'll get!" he exclaimed.

"Okay, let's compromise. Come up to the apartment tomorrow and we'll talk. Because now is not the time for that." I told him, gesturing to the people around us.

"Okay" he agreed, staring at me. Suddenly his eyes turned soft and a small smile graced his lips. I couldn't help but return the smile. He opened up his arms and I flung myself into them. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him, his touch shot sparks up my spine and I shivered slightly. I sighed into his chest and then pulled back. I could see apologies written all over his face and I knew I would never be able to stay mad at him now.

"Tomorrow" I confirmed.

"Tomorrow" he agreed.

"Here's your drink Bella" Demetri said, suddenly beside me, he thrust the drink into my hand and I took a sip-was there something off about the taste?

"Thanks Demetri" I told him, forgetting it for the moment.

There was an awkward silence between the three of us. Edward and Demetri were glaring at eachother-and they appeared to be sizing eachother up. I sighed in annoyance and broke the silence.

"Um, I'm gonna go look for the others" I mumbled, and started to walk away.

"I'll come with you" Demetri said, wrapping his arm around my waist and walking me into another room where a bunch of people were dancing.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked.

"Sure" I replied.

He led me over to the moving bodies and turned my back to his chest. We danced for a little bit, but I suddenly felt very tired and a little tipsy-not in the drunk way-more so the head rush, the room is spinning kind of way. I downed the rest of my drink and threw the cup away-I was so thirsty.

I pulled away from Demetri, sat down in a chair and closed my eyes-I felt dizzy. When I opened them, Demetri was standing in front of me with a glass of water.

"Thanks" I slurred, I tried to take it from him, but when I reached for it-he moved the cup. I tried again-same result.

"Stop moving the cup" I mumbled angrily, I wasn't in the mood for this shit.

"I'm not moving it Bella" he told me, smirking a little. He grabbed my hand and placed it on the cup, I smiled at him gratefully and took it from him.

There was something wrong with my head.

I took a sip and grimaced at the taste.

"This is vodka" I stated, giggling. The whole situation was suddenly hysterical.

"Yeah it is" he said. I couldn't see him right, his face was blurred.

And suddenly I was laughing hysterically. Why? I don't know-the whole situation seemed hilarious.

"Let's dance again!" I exclaimed giddily, jumping up and grabbing his hand.

I pulled him to the dance floor and grinded into him with all the sexiness I could muster. He grabbed my hips and moved me against him. I reached my arms up and wrapped them around his neck and giggled for no reason-I just felt really happy and giddy.

A couple in the corner of the room caught my attention-they were making out furiously-his hands on her ass and her fingers in his hair.

"Why are Edward and Tanya making out?" I yelled at Demetri, pointing to the couple in the corner of the room.

"Bella, that's not Edward and Tanya-they're my friends Jane and Alec." 

"Oh," I mumbled, and then giggled "Oops!"

"I have to pee really badly" I said suddenly.

"Okay" he said, he took my hand and led me to one of the bathrooms upstairs-I tripped a couple of times-the stairs were moving.

"Harry Potter" I giggled.

He appeared to have not noticed and continued up the stairs.

"You can't come in with me silly!" I chortled once we reached the door "You'll see my lady bits! Only Edward can see my lady bits!" I giggled unthinkingly.

His expression suddenly became surprised, but he quickly composed himself, smiled at me and let me in to the bathroom. Wow I had to pee _really_ badly.

I don't know how long I sat on the toilet for but I suddenly heard voices outside. I giggled at my eaves dropping-but tried to pay attention when I heard Tanya's voice.

"He said that a loss of bladder control was one of the effects. It really hit her hard-she won't stop giggling" Demetri said.

"Good, then it's working-did you give her the vodka?" Tanya asked him.

"Yeah, she drank it all"

I didn't understand what they were talking about so I opened the door after pulling up my panties and stepped out.

"What are you talking about?" I asked them.

"I was just telling Tanya how great a dancer you are" he said, smiling.

"Oh!" I guffawed "I thought you were trying to drug me or something"

Tanya smiled at my reaction and walked off. I stood there for a few moments with Demetri and then smirked for no reason. Demetri stalked toward me and grabbed the tops of my arms. I gasped in surprise and he crushed his lips to mine. I closed my eyes and kissed him back. I wished it was Edward I was kissing-I imagined it was him. He opened his mouth and caressed my tongue. I opened my eyes and saw Edward staring back at me. I was surprised for a second but then smiled against his lips.

"Mmm, Edward" I sighed into his mouth.

"Bella, I'm Demetri" I pulled away from him and looked over him again. Suddenly his face morphed into Demetri and I giggled in amusement.

"Oops!" I exclaimed again. "I thought you were Edward!"

"Let's go back downstairs" he suggested. I nodded and he took my hand again, and then suddenly we were dancing again. When did we get down here? I felt his erection rubbing against my backside and I ground into him instinctively-like I had done with Edward at Karaoke.

The room pulsated around me, the colours of the walls and furniture blended together. The sound of the music and people talking grew louder and louder, until it hurt. I covered my ears, looking at my feet-they seemed to be growing bigger and bigger-I laughed and thought I looked like big foot.

Where's Edward? I want Edward. Edward will make me feel better. I don't feel good. I don't wanna look like big foot.

I left Demetri's embrace in search of him. I stumbled through the kitchen and into the living room. I could see Edward standing on the patio by himself, so I wandered out to him and grabbed him around the waist.

"Whoa! Bella, you scared me" he exclaimed, turning around to look at me.

I started to giggle hysterically at that. I scared Edward.

"Yeah you did" Edward said, his beautiful smile wavering.

Oops! I was talking out loud.

"Edward" I whined "My feet are too big-tell me I don't look like big foot"

"Bella are you drunk?" he asked, frowning.

"You're too good looking to frown" I said, bouncing on the spot.

He grabbed my shoulders to hold me in the spot. I frowned at him and pouted.

"You're no fun"

"Bella, how many drinks have you had?" he asked seriously.

"Why so serious?" I said in a raspy voice, my poor impersonation of the joker caused me to laugh.

"Bella" he said sternly.

"Okay, okay. Hmm...I don't think I had any..." I trailed off, I couldn't remember. Did I drink anything? How long were we here for? It felt like hours.

I started to bounce again.

"Are you fucking joking Bella? You're smashed" he exclaimed in frustration. "I thought you would have learned you fucking lesson last time and wouldn't drink" he said furiously.

"Doesn't it bring back fond memories Edward?" I asked with what I hoped was a seductive smile.

"At the moment, no"

"But you told me I was all sexyfulls" I giggled, poking him in the chest.

**EPOV**

What the fuck is wrong with her? She never acted like this before. I could smell the alcohol from her breath. I was thoroughly confused. She was extremely giddy, couldn't remember what she drank, yet she was slurring all her words. She was bringing up a conversation she made me put off until tomorrow...

Once again, what the fuck is wrong with her?

"Eddie!"

_Fuck, fuck, shititty fuck shit._

"What are you doing out here?" she asked, glaring at Bella-who was staring at her hands in wonder.

"Just getting some air" I told her.

"What about you Bella?" she asked sweetly. Bella's head snapped up.

"I was reminding Edward of the sexy times we had in Hollywood" Bella said deviously, smirking a little.

_Shit_.

"What sexy times?" Tanya asked, holding her composure.

"The ones in Hollywood, duh" Bella exclaimed, with an exasperated look on her face.

"You and Edward had sex?" Tanya asked.

"Haha, yeah" she giggled "We got really drunk, and then he told me I was sexy and then we had sexy times-it was gooooood" she giggled.

Before Bella or I could anticipate anything. Tanya lunged for Bella. They both fell to the ground, where Tanya straddled Bella and started clawing at her hair. Bella screamed, and threw a punch at her face. Tanya fell back with a thud and clutched her nose-but Bella wasn't finished yet.

"I've waited a long time for this bitch" she yelled, and began to kick her furiously.

I was so absorbed in the fight that I hadn't noticed Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie and Alice appear in the doorway-their mouths were gaped in shock at the scene before them. Tanya's screech of agony brought me to back to attention. I ran toward Bella and grabbed her by the waist. She kicked and flailed her arms around in annoyance as I pulled her away from Tanya.

"Bella! Cut it out!" I yelled at her-but she was beyond reason-she writhed under my grip and clawed at the vice-like grip my hands had around her waist.

This wasn't my Bella. I hated this side of her. I never wanted to see it again. I was so angry that she would do this-it was so unlike her. I really thought that she would be more responsible and not drink.

"Edward, I got her. Go get your girlfriend" Demetri said calmly beside me.

I sigh in annoyance. I would have preferred that Em or Jasper take her, but they were occupied outside.

"Fine" I huffed and put her down next to him, and went outside to face Tanya.

**BPOV**

My head was spinning.

One minute I was being attacked,-I think-then Edward was carrying me somewhere, did I kick him? I can't remember why I was kicking him. Suddenly someone else's arms were around me and I was being pulled away, I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror and laughed-my hair was all frizzy-I looked like Aslan.

"RAWR!" I roared, and then started pissing myself laughing "I AM ASLAN! WELCOME TO NARNIA!" I looked up to see Demetri looking back at me intensely. I suddenly had an awesomeness idea.

"Let's go find a wardrobe and go to Narnia!" I snickered, clapping my hands and bouncing on the spot in my excitement.

He seemed to ignore me.

"Wait here for a second Bella" he said, and then disappeared.

I followed him out back where he pulled a very drunk Emmett aside.

"I'm gonna take Bella home" he said.

Emmett nodded and Demetri came over to me.

"I thought we were gonna play Narnia" I asked, with a small pout.

"Okay, let's go to my room and find my wardrobe" he smirked.

Thrilled that he was playing along-I grabbed his hand and towed him up the stairs. He showed me where his room was and pulled me inside. I spotted a large maple wardrobe beside a desk and started for it-but he suddenly pulled me back to his chest and crushed his lips against mine.

My mind was blank. I didn't understand what was going on. My eyes started to droop and I suddenly felt exhausted, my body collapsed against him-I felt like I had been injected with a tranquiliser. He grabbed me by my hips and pushed me backwards, and then lips were on my neck-licking and sucking their way across my chest. My mind wasn't in sync with the situation, I felt tired.

It felt strenuous to think-so I let my eyes drift closed and I blacked out.

**A/N**

**So who's confused? Can anyone guess what Demetri put in her drink?**

**I loved writing this chapter-I never had experience in the whole hallucination department, but if I did-it would probably end with me thinking I'm Aslan or Harry Potter or Spiderman...**

**So up to 300 reviews and I'll update.**

**-Cosmic Monster.**


	15. Blinding

**A/N I don't own Twilight**

_And I could hear the thunder,_

_And see the lightning crack,  
>All around the world was waking, <em>

_I never could go back  
>'Cause all the walls of dreaming,<em>

_They were torn wide open,  
>and finally it seemed that the spell was broken.<em>

**-Blinding, Florence and the Machine**

**EPOV**

"Where's Bella?" I asked Jasper as I walked Tanya to the car. Her nose was definitely broken, and she needed to get it looked at.

"Demetri told Emmett that he was taking her home" Jasper told me.

A bad feeling settled in my stomach. Alarm bells were going off in my head-telling me that something was wrong.

"Did you see him taking her home?" I asked him, panicked.

"No, they just disappeared." He answered, with a thoughtful look on his face.

The feeling in my gut grew more intense and I passed off Tanya to Jasper without a second thought. I ran into the hallway and looked through the glass of the front door.

Demetri's car was still here.

I turned around and noticed Bella's jacket hanging up on the banister, and one of her heels on the stairs.

Fuck no.

A million possibilities ran through my mind as I tore up the stairs-completely enraged and terrified of what he might be doing to her. My heart was pounding furiously inside my chest as I slammed open all the doors upstairs. I was starting to lose my mind as every door I opened held no one inside. I clawed at my hair and my breathing came out in short gasps as the beginning of a panic attack came over me.

I suddenly noticed a door at the end of the hall that I had yet to check and started for it. The door was locked, and I jiggled the handle in annoyance. I took a few steps back and ran for the door and- with all the force I could muster-broke the lock and shoved the door open.

When I stepped inside-my heart stopped and I gasped in horror.

Bella was laying on a bed-unconscious from what I could tell. She was in nothing but her underwear and looked as pale as a ghost. But that was nothing compared to what my mind registered in the next few seconds.

Demetri was straddling her-still fully clothed, but in the process of opening his shirt.

My entire being froze as I took in the sight of him holding her down. I felt tears prickle my eyes, as my breathing started to come out in short gasps. How the fuck could I let this happen? What was I thinking-leaving her with him? I felt so angry with myself that I could let this happen to my Bella, how I could let this happen to the woman I loved.

I looked at her peaceful face once more and I felt my blood boil. An enraged roar ripped through me and I lunged for him. He gasped in surprise as I grabbed him around the neck and pulled him from her. I slammed him against the nearest wall-holding him there with my hand wrapped tightly around his neck. He tried to grab me, but I grasped both of his hands in one of mine and tightened my grip on his neck. He spluttered as he tried to talk-but my hold on his neck was too tight and his face slowly turned purple.

"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING? YOU FUCKING PERVERTED ASSHOLE!" I roared and pulled his head forward and slammed it back harshly into the wall. His eyes rolled into the back of his head a little, and opened his mouth to try and speak.

I didn't give him the chance as I grabbed his shoulders and kneed him in the stomach-as he bent his head forward to grasp his stomach, I clenched my fist and punched him across his face. He doubled over as he screamed in agony-falling to the floor.

I immediately began to kick him in the ribs over and over. I couldn't think of the consequences. All I thought about was my sweet Bella being taking advantage of. I was hysterical. No one was allowed to touch her that way-and I was going to make sure he never touched her again.

I had to protect her this time.

Demetri's cries grew weaker, and then I suddenly felt a pair of large arms wrap around me and pull me backwards.

"Calm down Edward, we need to get Bella to the hospital" Emmett said to me calmly.

His words snapped me back to reality, and I looked over at the bed to see Rosalie and Alice checking over her with saddened yet panicked expressions.

I completely forgot about Demetri, as I ran over to her. I placed my hand on her forehead and noticed she was burning up. I put my hand over her chest and felt her heart beating too rapidly in her chest. Her breathing started to speed up and she broke out in a cold sweat.

"We need to get her to the hospital, now" I yelled frantically, and pulled my jacket off. I wrapped it around her, picked her up bridal style and carried her out of the room.

"Alice, go get the car started" I yelled at her. She wasted no time in taking the keys out of my pocket and running down the stairs.

"Emmett, Jasper? Ring the police and take care of him-I think he drugged her" They nodded solemnly and I saw Emmett pick him up harshly and shake him furiously.

I focused my attention on Bella and ran down the stairs with her. People started to flock around us, wondering what had happened. I shoved past them and Rosalie opened the door to let me out. Alice was already in the car with the engine running thankfully.

I slid into the back with Bella in my lap. Rosalie opened the passenger door and got in. Alice sped out of the driveway and we headed to Seattle hospital.

"Rosalie, call my dad and tell him what happened. I want him to be there when they check her out."

She nodded and pulled out her cell.

I looked back down at Bella and gasped at how pale she was-her lips were white, and sweat matted pieces of her hair to her face. I brought my hand up and pushed the hair away and kissed her forehead. I cupped her face in my hand and ran my thumb over her cheek. I felt a single tear run down my cheek, and my grasp on her tightened.

I was terrified. I was almost certain that he drugged her, it would explain everything; the giddiness, the way she didn't know if she'd drank anything, her slurred speech, and difficulty thinking.

Never in my life have I been so scared. I couldn't lose her. I might never get the chance to tell her I loved her. I felt my throat constrict as I held back a sob at the thought of her overdosing or something worse.

I stopped my thoughts short-afraid that I might go insane if I let my thoughts go in that direction-I had to focus on getting her better-we'd worry about the side effects once I knew that she would be okay.

We pulled up in front of the hospital-where Carlisle greeted us. He took one look at Bella and his face paled. He quickly called for a stretcher and started yelling out orders to different doctors. Two nurses came around the corner with a stretcher and Bella was pulled from my arms and wheeled down the hall.

Suddenly everything was quiet as Carlisle and the other doctors took her away from me. And I took a second to collect my thoughts. I sat down in one of the chairs in the reception and stared blankly at the patterns on the carpet. I felt numb as I took a moment to breathe.

Then I felt tiny arms wrap around me and I looked up to see it was Alice hugging me with a sympathetic smile on her face, her eyes were filled with unshed tears-she was afraid for Bella too. I slowly brought my arms around her waist and let out a choked sob. She ran her hands up and down my back in a soothing gesture as I let the tears stream down my face.

Alice held me as I started to drift in and out of consciousness. I wanted to stay awake and wait for news on Bella, but Alice reminded me that she would wake me up the second a doctor came around to us.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

I woke up to loud voices-it sounded like arguing. I felt Alice shake my shoulder and I opened my eyes, and lifted my head from her shoulder.

"What's going on?" I asked her sleepily, rubbing my hand over my eyes.

"A nurse came out and said Carlisle will be out shortly to talk to us" she said softly, "And, um...Tanya's here" she added cautiously.

"How did she get here?" I asked.

"She came with Jasper" she said, I looked over her shoulder and saw Jasper sitting in the chair on the other side of her. "She's getting her nose checked out" she giggled.

"Where's Emmett?" I asked Jasper.

"He's talking with the police back at the house" Jasper told me, "Man I'm really sorry for what happened" he said sadly.

"It's fine Jazz, we got her out of there and now the doctors are doing the best they can" I told him with a small smile. I had to try and remain optimistic or else I would surely go insane. I was so worried about her.

Carlisle came around the corner then and approached us. I quickly stood up along with the others, and eagerly waited for some news.

"Okay," he sighed "firstly, the blood tests show that she was drugged with Gamma Hydroxybutyrate-otherwise known as date rape drug, or liquid ecstasy" I took in a deep breath through my nose and nodded for him to continue.

"The standard amount that is used to get high is on average-one point five to two point five grams-Bella's blood results said that she had more than seven grams." 

I was right-she'd overdosed.

A feral growl ripped through me and I stalked around the room-looking for something to punch. After coming up with nothing-I decided the wall would do and slammed my fist against it repeatedly.

"Edward! Stop now!" Carlisle yelled. I sighed and flexed my fingers-my knuckles were bleeding slightly, but nothing was broken. I stalked back over to him.

"Go on" I growled.

"You got her to us just on time-her blood pressure had dropped dramatically. We managed to pump her stomach and removed all the drugs from her system. A part of the procedure also includes a rape-kit," he stopped short as he noticed my lethal expression, but continued "It came back clear, so there is nothing else to worry about concerning her health. She's going to be out for the rest of the night-we expect her to wake up sometime tomorrow morning."

I nodded in understanding and took a few more deep breaths.

"So she'll be okay?" I asked.

"Yes, she'll be fine" he told me, and then smiled a little "As for your girlfriend" he smirked and I shivered at the title "She has a broken nose and some badly bruised ribs"

"You had time to check on her?" I asked in annoyance, he should have been with Bella.

"No, but I stopped by her room on the way to you. She was asking for you"

"Great" I sighed.

Carlisle had to visit some other patients so he left us and said he would be back when I could go and see Bella. I anxiously paced up and down the room-running my fingers through my hair as time seemed to go at a snail pace. Emmett showed up a little while later, and told us that when we left, the cops showed up and the crowd scarpered. He told them everything that happened and they called in more police to check the house for drugs. They took Demetri with them and were holding him over night until they found the evidence and spoke with Bella.

"Shit, I need to call Charlie" I mumbled and took out my phone.

"It's okay bro," Emmett said, "He showed up with the police that were searching the house, I told him everything that happened. He said that he would come here as soon as he could, but he wanted to make sure that Demetri was behind bars first."

"Thanks," I told him.

A while later, Rosalie and Alice decided to go to the canteen for some coffee. I declined the offer and started to pace again. Emmett and Jasper tried to calm me down-but their soothing words did nothing for my hyped up state. And then a fucking miracle happened.

"You can go see her now" A nurse said to me, as the others stood up. "I'm afraid you can only visit her one at a time." She said when she realized there were five of us.

"That's fine, Edward can go" Rosalie told her, pushing me forward.

"Are you guys sure?" I asked hesitantly, but I was already slowly walking in the direction of the rooms.

Alice laughed and ushered me toward the door "Of course Edward, go!" she chided. I sent them a grateful smile and followed the nurse down the hall.

**BPOV**

My head was spinning.

The first thing I hear d when I woke up was voices. Woke up? When did I fall asleep? Where were the voices coming from? The sounds grew fainter and then I heard footsteps and a door closing. Was there someone in my apartment?

I felt light headed, and my stomach felt queasy. Suddenly the voices were back and the door opened again. Light footsteps came closer and the door closed again. I could feel a presence beside me, and I began to panic. Who the fuck was in my apartment? Was I even in my apartment? The hard mattress beneath me told me that I wasn't.

Slowly my senses began to register to my surroundings and I took in a deep breath.

Ugh! I'm in a hospital-I'd know that stench anywhere. Wait a second. Why am I at the hospital? What happened to me? I wanted answers, and the only way I could get answers would be to open my eyes, and see who was with me.

I peeled my eyes open slowly, and blinked a few times. The room was dark-the small amount of light was provided by a dim bedside lamp. It was dark outside, which made me more curious.

I looked down at the bed and noticed an IV in my wrist. I winced at the sight and turned my hand over-I always had a sore spot for veins and shit.

A small gasp came from my right and I whipped my head around instinctively. I sighed in relief when I saw that it was Edward. He was sitting in an uncomfortable looking chair, his hand outstretched to hold my left hand. I squeezed his hand and he squeezed it back. I looked at his face and immediately noticed the dark circles under his eyes. How long was he here for? When did he sleep last?

"Ed-"I started to say his name, but was cut off by a pang of nausea in my stomach. I could feel the vomit coming up and gestured for him to give me something to puke into. His eyes widened and he quickly picked up a basin that was beside him and thrust it under my chin.

I gagged as water came up, and I spat it all into the basin. There wasn't a lot, so I sighed a little in relief. Edward took the basin from me and passed me a napkin to wipe my mouth and then gave me a glass of water. I sent him a thankful smile and chugged all the water down.

I gasped a little and he took the glass from me.

"Would you like more?" he asked softly.

I smiled at him and shook my head "N-no thanks" I told him, my voice was slightly raspy.

"Are you okay?" he asked "Do you still feel sick?" his worried tone made me smile a little, and I shook my head.

"I would actually appreciate it if you told me why the hell I'm here" I said.

His eyes widened a little, and he cleared his throat.

"Do you remember anything?" he asked quietly.

"Not a thing" I answered honestly.

He seemed to contemplate something for a moment which only worried me further.

"Edward!" I yelled at him in agitation.

"Sorry!" he exclaimed, "I just don't know what exactly to tell you" he sighed.

"Whatever you know" I encouraged.

"Okay" he said "Do you remember going to the party at Demetri's?"

I thought for a moment and then suddenly remembered getting ready with Alice and Rosalie in my apartment. I remembered arriving at Demetri's and then talking with Edward-but that was it.

"Yes"

"What do you remember after that?" he asked cautiously, his tone only worried me further.

"I only remember him getting me a drink and talking with you. Nothing after that" 

I don't know what I said to set him off-but Edward suddenly stood up from his seat and started pacing- with a livid expression. He was muttering under his breath and ran his fingers through his hair roughly.

"Edward, what's wrong?" I asked, watching him pace at the end of my bed.

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, something he only did when he was trying to calm himself down. He inhaled through his nose and exhaled before answering.

"Bella, did your drink taste a little off?" he asked, and then looked at me.

I thought back to when Demetri gave me my coke and grimaced.

"Yeah actually, it did" I told him, but what did that have to do with anything?

He looked at me as though he was waiting for me to say something else. When I didn't he sighed and walked over to me. I automatically scooted over on the bed and made room for him. He smiled a little and sat next to me.

"Tell me" I said, grabbing his hand in my own.

"Demetri drugged you" he said quietly, I gasped a little but he continued before I could say anything. "He put liquid ecstasy in your coke, and then once you were out of it he gave you vodka or something like that."

"And then what?" I asked in shock.

"I don't really know what you got up to , but you came out to me on the patio and started to talk to me..."he trailed off for some unknown reason "Anyway, Tanya came out, and you two got into a bitch fight and you broke her nose and bruised her ribs" he said with a small smile.

I gasped but then smiled in pride at myself.

I hope it's crooked.

"Wait, why did I fight her?" I asked, drugged or not, I find it hard to believe that I would start a fight for no reason.

Edward seemed to contemplate for a minute, but then said "You started to talk about that night in Hollywood, and when Tanya came out you told her about our sexy times" he said with a small frown.

"Shit" I mumbled "Edward, I'm so sorry" I told him, with all the sincerity I had.

"It's fine Bella, really, you didn't know any better at the time...and besides, I'm kinda hoping Tanya won't want to be near me again" He added with a smirk.

"I still can't believe you haven't broken up with her" I told him.

"Me either Bella"

I didn't want to talk about Tanya anymore so I decided to ask a more important question.

"So why am I in the hospital?"

He rubbed his free hand over his face "I pulled you off of Tanya and brought you inside, Demetri was there and told me to get Tanya and he told Emmett that he was taking you home" I already didn't like where this was going "So I got Tanya and when Jasper told me that he was supposed to be taking you home-something in me just snapped, I just had this gut feeling that something was wrong and I had to make sure you were okay" I smiled at this and brought his hand up to my lips and kissed it.

"So, I found one of your shoes on the stairs and Demetri's car was still there-and I guess I thought the worst when I figured he was upstairs with you. So I knocked down every door up there and when I finally found you" he stopped short and looked at me, there was fear and sadness in his eyes-I wanted to hug him "Demetri was on top of you and you were in your underwear-you were passed out."

I stopped breathing as I realised how close I was to probably being date raped. Edward must have noticed because suddenly his arms were around me, pulling me closer to his chest. I snuggled against him and he buried his face in my hair.

"What happened then?" I mumbled into his chest.

"I got him off you and beat the living shit out of him"

I giggled a little and squeezed him a little tighter.

"Then Jasper and Emmett, Rose and Alice found us. The guys took care of Demetri and I brought you here with Alice and Rose-you were sweating and your heart was beating way too fast-that was when I realised you were drugged, alcohol wouldn't have that effect on you"

"I'd overdosed" I stated.

"Yes. Carlisle said that they pumped your stomach of the drugs and did a rape kit just in case" he growled on the last part.

"But you didn't let anything happen to me" I could just feel guilt resonating from him.

"Barely, I should have-"he started but I cut him off.

"Edward, you couldn't have done anything" I told him seriously "You stopped him before he could rape me, and that's all that matters, and I am so grateful for that" I sat up and kissed his cheek, letting my lips linger there for a few minutes. When I pulled back he looked into my eyes with such love and happiness that it almost staggered me. I felt my skin flush under the heat of his gaze. I unthinkingly leaned into him and my mouth opened slightly, he leaned in a little also-I thought he was going to kiss me. I wanted him to kiss me-I tried to remind myself that we still needed to talk.

The door suddenly opened and I jerked back. Carlisle strolled in wearing his scrubs and wore a relieved expression when he looked at me.

"Good to see you awake Bella." He said as he checked the IV and pressed his hand against my forehead. "You're temperature seems to gone, do you feel nauseous at all?"

"I did, but I'm fine now" I told him.

"Good," he smiled "Has Edward informed you on what happened?" he asked cautiously.

"Yeah," I replied quietly "Is there anything I need to do?" I asked

"The police will be here later today to talk to both of you and Tanya. Charlie called me and told me that Demetri keeps asking for Tanya" he said, looking at Edward.

"What?" Edward snarled.

"Apparently she was somewhat involved"

Edward suddenly leapt from the bed and he was about to walk away but I grabbed the back of his shirt to prevent him from taking another step.

"Where are you going?" I asked nervously. Honestly, his murderous expression was scaring me a little bit.

"I'm going to have a little word with Tanya."

**So I'm not going to give you guys a two page essay on why I haven't updated, but I will tell you that I was in a car accident and was in a coma for a month so...yeah...sorry for not updating I guess...I'm fine now though and promise to speed up with all the updates I missed! Thanks to everyone for reviewing and being so patient! :) **

**Thanks guys! Please review!**

**-Cosmic Monster**


	16. I've got this friend

**A/N I don't own Twilight**

_Oh I've got this friend_

_A loveless romantic_

_All that he really wants_

_Is someone to want him back_

_Ohh, if the right one came_

_If the right one came along_

_Ohh, If the right one came, along_

**-I've got this friend, The civil wars**

**EPOV**

Bella released my shirt and I stormed out of the room without looking back. My expression must have been lethal because the nurses in the hallway seemed to shuffle out of my way as I strode past them. My blood was boiling. I clenched and unclenched my fists rapidly. I didn't know what room she was in, so I had to stop at every glass pane at each door to check.

I finally stopped at one window and froze. She was sitting up on a bed reading some fashion magazine, something similar to a cast covering her nose. Her phone rang suddenly and she picked it up hesitantly, checked the caller ID and answered. I couldn't hear what she was saying, but her sudden alarmed expression made me extremely curious. I quietly opened the door slightly so I could hear better.

"What do you mean they found my bag?" she asked, terror-stricken. "Do they know it's mine?"

There was silence for a moment as the caller spoke.

"Demetri! The ecstasy was in there!" she whispered in a panic "They'll know it was me, my wallet was in it!"

The _ecstasy_. Tanya was _very_ involved.

My breathing stopped for a moment, and I took a few seconds to collect my thoughts.

This woman, whom I let into my home, meet my family and friends, showed affection to-she did this to my Bella.

She nearly _killed_ my Bella.

An enraged roar ripped through my chest and I slammed the door open and stormed into the room. Tanya's face paled when she saw me-my chest heaving with my anger. I grabbed the phone out of her hand and flung it across the room, smashing it into little pieces against a wall.

"You did this!" I barked, stalking toward her. "She was my best friend and you did this to her!"

"E-Eddie, w-w-what are you talking about?" she stammered nervously.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! I heard you on the phone just now! How could you do that Tanya? I mean, I kind of knew you were a bitch-but I never thought you would sink so low as to risk someone's life" I screamed.

She gaped at me with a surprised expression, like she was amazed I found out.

"Well?" I yelled. She stared back at me in shock "Did you think I would never find out? That something would happen to Bella and I'd run back into your arms? If this is the case then you don't know me very well Tanya."

"She wanted you" she mumbled, not looking at me.

"And you think that's a good enough excuse to drug someone? To risk someone's life? Maybe I should get one of the doctors to check your head, because something isn't fucking right with it." I snapped.

"She was pulling us apart Edward!" she yelled, her eyes pleading for me to understand "I saw how close you to were, and I seen how you look at her! I knew you loved her the minute you had that stupid look on your face that first day we arrived here! I couldn't let her take you away from me!"

I paused for a moment to digest this newly found information, but it still didn't explain one thing.

"And how was drugging her supposed to pull us apart?" I snarled, my previous anger arising again.

She hesitated for a moment before answering.

"That was Demetri's idea" she finally whispered "He wanted her too, so I didn't see anything wrong with him pulling her away from you. We would both get we wanted, and I hated the little whore" she sneered.

"_Don't_, say that about her. _Ever._" I growled fiercely, my expression must have been quite a sight because she seemed to shrink back against the bed.

"I can't believe I was so fucking blind to not see this" I said, gesturing to her figure with my hand "The real you. You made me believe you were a sweet person, but I suppose jealousy _does_ bring out the worst in people. I feel so fucking _stupid_ for not leaving you sooner." I vented "You're nothing but a jealous, self-centered, spoiled, egotistical bitch, and I never want anything to do with you again." I said and I turned to leave.

"Eddie wait!" she pleaded. I turned around to see her sitting up on the bed again, leaning forward.

"Please! The police, they know the drugs were in my bag-they'll send me to prison! Please help me!" she had tears in her eyes.

She looked so pathetic.

"Then you're finally getting what you deserve." I stated calmly, and left the room to go check on my Bella.

XXX

Carlisle was standing patiently outside Bella's room, looking over a chart. He looked up as he heard me approaching.

"Ring the police and tell them it's Tanya's bag with the drugs in it" I stated as I breezed past him and into Bella's room. I didn't waste time waiting for his response.

Bella watched me as I came in-I'm sure my face held quite the expression. She scooted over in the bed and I sat beside her. I threw my arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. My little chat with Tanya made me more aware of just how close I was to losing Bella.

I squeezed her a little tighter to me and kissed her head.

"So…"she started.

"So…." I said back, waiting for her to continue-even though I knew what she was about to say.

"What happened with Tanya?" she asked inquisitively. She looked up at me, her eyes full of unanswered questions.

"I just had a few final words to say to her" I stated, saying no more.

Of course I wouldn't get a- fucking-way with that response.

"Well what did you say?" she asked slightly impatient. She pulled away from my chest and sat up so that she was facing me.

"I'm not going to repeat everything, but I found out that she was involved in drugging you. The drugs were in her bag and the police found out"

She took a deep breath and said "What's going to happen to her?"

"Jail and a fine maybe" I said "I'm not one hundred percent sure. She'll get what she deserves though." I said calmly.

She was silent for a moment before I felt the sheets moving as she shifted her weight, and then I felt arms wrap around my neck. I instinctively wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer. Her strawberry scented hair relaxing me. We'd been through so much these past few weeks-mentally and physically, and holding her in my arms -it felt like the world was right again.

"Carlisle said I can go home tomorrow, but I'll be on bed rest for the rest of the week" she mumbled into my neck, her hot breath washing over the skin there.

"I'll take care of you." I promised with conviction. "Always"

"And what about when you go back to Alaska?"

"I'm not going back" I said unthinkingly.

She pulled back to look at me and I immediately missed the contact.

"What do you mean you aren't going back? What about your business and apartment and your friends?" she questioned seriously.

"Bella, they mean nothing compared to you." I said seriously. "I already told you that I wanted to open up a firm here in Seattle, I can buy a new apartment, and all the friends I need are here. And besides-I don't think I have the strength to leave you again." I said lovingly.

She stared at me for a moment-like she was trying to work out a difficult math problem, and then her expression relaxed and she sighed.

"I don't think I'd be able to _let_ you leave me again." She smiled, but a yawn cut her off.

"Sleep. You have enough drugs in you to be out for days-I'm surprised you woke so quickly." I told her.

She didn't argue as she lay down-but tugged at my shirt and pulled me down with her and snuggled into my chest.

I could get used to this. I knew that we still needed to discuss things, and I now had a lot to reconsider considering my work-but I had a feeling that things were finally falling into place for us. Things will work out from now on. I can feel it.

XXX

Bella was released the next day. I insisted on staying in her apartment with her until she was better, so I asked Esme to pack me a few things that I could use momentarily until I could leave and pack some more things for myself.

We arrived at her apartment, and Bella headed straight for her room to shower and put on some pajamas. I did the same and then headed for the kitchen and put the kettle on. Tea is the cure to everyone's problems in Bella's mind. I turned on her I-pod and turned the volume down so that it was a gentle hum in the background.

I heard the shower stop and some movement from behind the bathroom door. A few minutes later, Bella emerged from her room in an old pearl jam concert tee and those fucking tiny-ass short shorts.

Holy shit her legs look good. They would look even better wrapped around my-

"You made tea?" she asked sweetly as she padded into the kitchen.

"Uh, yeah" I stuttered "Here" I passed her a mug, not looking at her.

She took a sip and moaned seductively as the heat travelled down her throat. My eyes snapped up to her face at the sound. She was watching me intently, and smirked mischievously when she caught me staring.

She did that on _purpose_.

Well two could play at that game.

I grabbed a strawberry from the fruit bowl next to me and bit into it. I groaned as I tasted it and watched for Bella's reaction. She stared at my mouth intently and I did a little happy dance inside. A bit of juice dribbled at the corner of my mouth and I stuck my tongue out-in what I hoped was a seductive manner-a licked it off.

Bella bit her lip and continued to stare at my mouth.

"Mmm," I moaned dramatically "So good"

"Really?" she asked with a glint in her eyes-it immediately worried me…in a good way.

"Perhaps I should try one" she smiled devilishly.

My smile dropped. She knew _exactly_ what she was doing.

She swayed her hips as she stalked over to me, and I watched in fascination as she leaned over my chest-her breasts brushing against me- as she bent over to grab a strawberry. She pulled back and smirked, before bringing the strawberry to her lips and biting into it, her lips wrapping around it. She licked her lips and moaned.

"You're right-they're _delicious_"

Junior perked up slightly at the sight-he's been out of business these past few weeks and is ready for some action.

She continued to suck and nibble on the fruit until it was gone. I thought I would be able to control myself-I really did, but when she went to reach for another-I lost it.

I grabbed her hips and pulled her to me-my lips crashing against hers in a fiery passion that left me breathless. She was surprised at first, but immediately melted into my embrace. Her arms wrapped themselves around my neck and she pulled me impossibly closer. I pressed my lips to hers again and again, until things grew more heated.

Her mouth opened and she traced my bottom lip with her tongue. I immediately opened my mouth and the kiss grew more passionate. I poured everything into that kiss. Everything we'd been through this past month finally hit me and I kissed her harder. She moaned into my mouth and I backed her up against the counter. Her fingers laced into the hair at the nape of neck as my hands trailed down her thighs, hitched around her knees and picked her up-placing her on the counter. Her long, smooth legs that I had fantasized about so many times-wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer.

I wanted so badly to grind up against her and give junior some action-but I couldn't. I wanted to do things right this time.

I slowed down our kisses and she pulled back to look at me.

"I've wanted to do that for so long" she sighed happily, leaning her forehead against mine.

"Me too, God you have no idea how much I've wanted to do that" I smiled.

We were silent for a few moments. Both thinking over what we just admitted. I felt so comfortable with her-it felt so natural to hold her in my arms like this and kiss her whenever I wanted. The idea of being able to do this every day overwhelmed me with happiness.

So I figured we better get this _talk_ out of the way.

"Bella?" I asked quietly

"Mhmm?" she mumbled, her eyes closed.

"I just wanted to say how sorry I am. For everything. For inviting Tanya here, for upsetting you, and for being so fucking stupid and oblivious in general. But Bella, you need to understand that I never, _ever_ expected Tanya to show up at the concert that night-she took me by complete surprise."

She pulled back to look at me with a somber expression.

"It's okay Edward" she said quietly.

"No, it's not okay. Because most of all, I'm angry. I'm so fucking angry that she interrupted what was about to be the best night of my life." I said.

"What do you mean?" she asked hesitantly.

"Because I was going to tell you that I'm in love with you and then kiss the ever-living shit out of you" I sighed wistfully.

She was quiet for a few moments and I was afraid to look at her. What if she changed her mind about me? What if that night at the concert was the final straw for her?

I didn't have time to finish listing off my worries, because Bella put her finger under my chin and forced me to look up at her.

"I'm in love with you too" she beamed.

My heart soared at her words and I couldn't help but lean forward and kiss her sweetly again and again. She responded just as eagerly.

"So you really love me?" I asked, all giddy and shit. I felt like bouncing around and clapping.

"Really. I think always did, but I passed it off as a friendship thing. It's silly really, how much time we wasted when we could have been together. When did you realize that you were in love with me?" she asked softly, playing with the hair at the nape of my neck.

"When we were getting our tattoos" I smirked as we both instinctively looked at our wrists.

"That was one uh..._crazy_ week." She blushed as she, no doubt, was thinking about that night we had sex in Hollywood.

"You were such a little minx, getting me all hot and bothered with your dancing" I laughed and she buried her face in my chest in embarrassment.

"Oh God, don't remind me" she groaned, and then giggled slightly.

I loved that sound.

"I love you" I told her. It felt _so_ good saying that out loud.

"I love you too" she whispered and kissed me again. "I could _totally_ get used to this" she grinned against my lips.

"Used to what?"

"Kissing you whenever I want" she stated.

"Mmm, I like the sound of that" I agreed and kissed her again.

Things got heated again quickly and Bella started grinding up against me, and kissed me harder than before-more passionate. I was all for it, but when Bella started to undo my shirt I knew we had to stop.

"Bella?" I mumbled against her passionate kisses.

"Yeah?" she panted, kissing down my neck.

_Oh shit._

"W-we h-have to s-stop" I stuttered, holy fuck she just licked me.

"Why?" she moaned, pulling at my hair.

"_Yeah Edward?"_ Junior screamed _"Why?"_

"Because I want to do things right this time" I said with a little more control.

She pulled back and pouted, her bottom lip sticking out adorably.

"What do you mean?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

_Don't look at her cleavage, don't look at her-too late._

"I want to take you out on a date first" I said, looking up from her chest.

"A date." She stated, with disbelieving eyes

"Yeah, you know-bring you to a movie; go to dinner, that kind of thing. I just don't want us jumping into anything. I want to do things in their proper order. And that means no sex until we've at least been on one date" I said with conviction.

"All I got out of that was _no sex" _she said grumpily and I laughed.

"Exactly. Please Bella? Just let me do this, I think it will make things right." I asked, begging her to understand.

"Fine" she said with a small smile.

"Good" I beamed and kissed her nose. "Now drink your tea and get into bed, you need your rest"

She hopped down off the counter and downed the rest of her tea. She took my hand as she was leaving the kitchen and pulled me into her room.

"Sleep with me tonight?" she asked sweetly.

"Okay, but no funny business." I said with false seriousness.

"No funny business" she confirmed.

We got under the blankets and we immediately moved closer together. I threw my arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer-her head lying on my chest. I sighed in contentment. Everything felt right again.

We lay in silence for a few minutes, and I thought Bella had fallen asleep, until she cleared her throat.

"Edward?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you"

I smiled, "I love you too." 

We were quiet again.

"Edward?"

"Yeah?"

"How soon can we have this date?" she asked.

"As soon as you're better. Why?"

"Because I don't know about you, but I'm horny as fuck and I want some sexy times A.S.A.P."

**Hey everyone!**

**I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone for being so patient and understanding :) I know I said I would try and update-but I honestly wasn't **_**able**_** at the time. I received a few pm's and some lovely kind comments that I haven't been able to reply to, so I'm taking this opportunity to say thank you for your kind words and sweet, caring messages-they really meant a lot. I'm a lot better now-but I still have lots of school work to catch up on and such, so I'm sorry to say that you guys need to still be a little patient with me.**

**So I hope you guys liked this chapter-please review and tell me what you guys liked and disliked-I would love to hear some feedback. Please give me some ideas for the date! **

**Thanks again,**

**Cosmic Monster. **


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